Sheriff St/Mandela Ave road project
…as tender opening on hold
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is currently revising the scope of works on the Sheriff Street/Mandela Avenue Road Project (Lots 6-7), putting it on hold and delaying the opening of tenders for the project.
According to the Public Infrastructure Ministry, it is currently awaiting the ‘No Objection’ from the IDB for a revised scope of works.
“While the tender opening for this project was slated for April 11, 2017, this process was postponed, and bidders have been informed of the postponement while the go-ahead is awaited,” the Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
It was noted that tenders were returned unopened, and can be resubmitted on the newly identified tender opening date.
The project has been revised following discussions with the Finance Ministry with the aim of achieving completion before the loan deadline set out by the IDB. Loan-2741 was signed in 2012 to the tune of US$66 million, and it has a deadline of March 2018.
The revised scope, which is anticipated to cost US$35 million, will include the relocation of utilities, for which the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GTT) and the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) have been contracted.
Also among the works to be done are: pedestrian crossings; milling and new overlay of the surface; and repairs to bridges and structures.
While the revised scope was submitted to the Finance Ministry and subsequently forwarded to the IDB, the project must be green-lit before the tender opening can take place. Otherwise, the process would not be recognised by the IDB.
The initial project was tendered twice; first in 2014, and then again in 2015, both times under the previous administration. On the second occasion, tenders were returned in May 2015, as none of the contractors was deemed responsive.
Back in January, at the Public Infrastructure Ministry’s 2016 year-in-review exercise, it was noted that several of the internationally-funded projects were unable to get a start in 2016, but efforts are already apace to have them started. This included the IDB-funded Sheriff-Mandela project, which did not get off ground last year. It was explained that Government had decided to have a review of this project with it being nullified twice, once in 2015 and then in 2016.
“It was basically sent up for review, which has been completed, and that should be out for tendering at the end of this month, once we receive all the no-objections,” Geoffrey Vaughn of the Public Infrastructure Ministry had noted.
The review was conducted by the WSG Design Unit along with the consultant firm Egis, in association with SRK Engineering.
