$23.7M contract signed for rehabilitation of BIT training centre

The Labour Ministry on Monday signed a contract to the tune of $23.7 million for the rehabilitation of a Board of Industrial Training (BIT) learning resource centre at Unity, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD). The contract was awarded to Perba Trading and Construction, with the aim of completing the building by December 2023.

With training scheduled to commence in 2024, the building will facilitate welding programmes at the highest level and will also ensure that all skilled tradesmen are correctly re-trained and officially certified.
During the ceremony, Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton noted that it is an important initiative that will majorly help in changing the lives of people, adding that there are many skilled persons living in Guyana but the major investors coming to Guyana seek accreditation along with years of experience. In this regard, the Government is investing millions into establishing training facilities.
“In Guyana we have a lot of skilled tradesmen who will tell you how many years they have been doing this and they will tell you they are the best as they see it. But the world that upon us and that is upon Guyana, they really are not the best because my fear is a company will come to build a building in this country and the contract says you cannot bring a person on this site unless they are certified and accredited,” Minister Hamilton remarked.
“This facility will be rehabilitated to take people there, to retrain them…we are to establish a welding area there so we will attach a facility to do welding at the highest level. We have to prepare our people, both man and woman, for the world that is before them and whilst this might seem to be a simple exercise, it’s an important exercise for the development of Guyana,” Hamilton added.
Last month, in an effort to decentralise its services and ensure citizens from all across the country are afforded equal opportunities, the Ministry had signed two contracts for the construction of two new training centres in Corriverton and New Amsterdam, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) for the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) to carry out its operations.
The New Amsterdam centre will be constructed by NK Enterprise Inc to the tune of $44.8 million and the Corriverton training centre will be constructed by Perba Trading and Construction at an investment of $39.9 million.
Speaking at the signing, Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton had explained that the training facilities will be constructed at Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQ) Standards.
“We have to do this building, and even the training rooms and so, to the CVQ Standard. It’s useless we build a training facility that is just another training facility, we have to build a training facility that is at the level of the Caribbean Vocational Standard,” the Minister pointed out.
Moreover, he noted that though the centres are being constructed for use by the BIT, they will house the Ministry’s Labour offices within the region.
“The building is being built for the Board of Industrial Training. Labour will have offices there but it’s not a Labour office. It is a training building but we’ll have Labour offices to facilitate work that we do in the region,” Hamilton added.
Meanwhile, in a bid to ensure more persons benefit from training through the Board of Industrial Training, plans are afoot to refurbish several buildings across the country. These include areas like Bartica, Mahaica, Lethem, and Annai.