The deadline for submitting bids for the Conservancy Relief Structure at Hope/Dochfour  has now been extended to January 27, in order to facilitate bids from interested overseas-based engineers, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud told Stabroek News.

Following the announcement by President Bharrat Jagdeo that $3B was being budgeted for the building of a special relief channel to drain water from the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC), an advertisement was placed inviting tenders for the project.  The advertisement, which was placed by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), invited technical and financial proposals from suitably qualified and experienced consultants to provide consultancy services for the ‘Provision of Engineering Design of EDWC, Northern Relief Structure at Hope/Dochfour, ECD. Region No. 4’

The original deadline for the submission of bids was Tuesday, 20th January but this has been postponed by a week to facilitate these overseas firms that are interested in the project, Persaud said. So far, Persaud said that he has been informed that several firms have indicated an interest in this project.

After a period of consultancy, work on the relief channel is expected to begin later this year and is slated to be completed by June 2010.