The Housing and Water Ministry on Friday signed six contracts to the tune of $867 million, which will see the construction of roads at Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara (WBD).
This project falls under the Adequate Housing and Urban Accessibility Programme (AHUHAP), and will see six areas – Schoonord, Parfaite Harmonie, Westminster, Onderneeming, Recht-Door-Zee and Lust-en-Rust – being developed.
In addition to road works, the programme will include reinforced concrete drains, sidewalks and culverts within the specified areas. After a national competitive bidding process, six contractors were selected and signed their contracts in the presence of Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal.
In his remarks, Croal said these works were in response to complaints by residents in these areas calling for better infrastructure.
“A lot of persons from the Parfaite Harmonie cluster has been writing a lot of letters in the media; they have been calling and inquiring about when could they have their road rehabilitated and so the funding for this rehabilitation works is coming through the Urban Accessibility Programme. There are other contributions that are coming from various ministries,” he explained.
Croal urged the awarded contractors to employ persons within these communities in executing these works, improving the socioeconomic conditions for families.
“I expect all of you to work within your timelines and complete the works to the best of your ability. Whenever possible is it you can utilise the labour from within the communities, please do so. This will go a long way in improving the lives of our citizens who are often, in this case, the bracket poor and vulnerable,” he said.
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary Andre Ally reminded that officials from the Ministry would be monitoring the project to ensure it is moving apace and completed within the set timeline.
“We will have our projects team on the ground, monitoring all works and activities as they progress. I know our Director of Projects, and his team, has been very busy throughout the year – monitoring works and they have been performing very well,” Ally said.
This week, $59 million in Home Improvement Subsidies was disbursed to 118 low-income families in Sophia by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA). These subsidies are being distributed under the AHUHAP, which is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Through the programme, a total of $1.5 billion has also been spent on the upgrade of 12 kilometres of asphalt concrete roads, concrete bridges, concrete walkways, drainage culverts, and other infrastructural works in Sophia.
A new $51.3 million multi-purpose facility is also being built at the Section C Turkeyen recreational ground.
In August, the CH&PA distributed a total of $164 million in Home Improvement Subsidies and contracts for core homes under AHUHAP in Parfaite Harmonie, Region Three. (G12)
