State-of-the-art $2.5B GNBS lab to be completed by 2024

…IDB-funded project will be part of massive complex

A $2.5 billion state-of-the-art laboratory for the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which is being constructed by local company Nabi Construction Incorporated, is expected to be completed by 2024.

The lab is being built in the Sophia Exhibition complex, in close proximity to the Sophia Training Centre and Special School. The project will see the construction of a two-storey main building, a single storey services building, a two-storey truck bay testing area and other external works to prepare the site.
The implementing agencies for this project are Ministry of Tourism and the IDB, on behalf of the GNBS, while the consultant for the project is Vikab Guyana Limited. The 18-month duration of the project means it will likely be completed within the first half of 2024.
During the construction phase, most of the labour will be recruited from the surrounding communities including Sophia, Prashad Nagar, Campbellville, Lamaha Gardens, Turkeyen, etc. Once the facility is completed, however, approximately 120 persons will be hired mostly in specialist fields.
Last year, GNBS had recorded a successful year with several outstanding achievements. Focusing on the standards and measurement needs of consumers, businesses and organizations, the Bureau managed to surpass its targets in the timely delivery of its standards and services demanded by various stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the Bureau continued to meet its objectives as the country’s National Measurement Institute (NMI). One of the Bureau’s main roles is the verification of measuring instruments. In 2022, the GNBS’s Legal Metrology Department verified 39,807 measuring instruments used in trade including scales, masses, petrol pumps, breathalysers, speed guns, electricity meters and other devices.
In addition, throughout 2022, the Legal Metrology Department conducted 3878 surveillance visits to shops, markets and other retail outlets to ensure the measuring instruments comply. Amongst GNBS’s key achievements for 2022, the Industrial Metrology and Testing Laboratory launched new services. Those are non-destructive testing of gold, calibration of steel rules, tapes and depth gauges, testing of crude oil and medium distillate fuels for 5 parameters, and testing of percentage acid and base.
In 2022, the Department also calibrated 2039 measuring instruments. This sum includes 938 weights, 216 electronic balances, 360 thermometers, 181 volumetric meters, 183 pressure gauges, and 37 torque wrenches.
According to the certification agency, in its quest to promote the use of Standards in all sectors of the economy, the Bureau developed, revised and adopted a total of 75 standards including petroleum measurement standards relevant to the oil and gas sector. In addition, 466 voluntary and 69 compulsory standards were sold.
Only last month, the IDB had signed several loan agreements with Guyana, amounting to over US$200 million, which will go towards financing upgrades in the local health sector, climate resilience and small to medium business enterprises. Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh had noted at the time that the funds from one of the loans will, among other things, go towards financing the new, state-of-the-art laboratory for the GNBS.
“One of the major investments that will be made in this area is the establishment of a new, world-class, state-of-the-art laboratory… that laboratory will play an absolutely critical role in the standards and certification, which of course have taken on new and enhanced importance, given the changes taking place in Guyana’s economy. It’s important for us to be compliant with international standards and to be certified as compliant,” the Finance Minister had further explained. (G3)