Bids were opened yesterday for the rebuilding of a prison block at the Camp Street jail, which is part of the Guyana Prison Service’s Strategic Plan to have modernised and more humane facilities for inmates.
The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) opened eight bids for Phase 1 of a two phased plan to rehabilitate the Camp Street prison. With an engineer’s estimate pegged at $66,611,155, bids were as follows: Horizon General Associates and Construction Company, $50,192,000; Nabi Construction, $57,753,509; Harchand Sookdeo, $50,932,326; Aura Engineering $58,169,166; Pioneer General Construction, $53,294,291; William F.N Ferrell, $60,208,280; D&S Construction, $52,348,092 and Navin & Sons Construction, $53,587,831.
Director of Prisons Dale Erskine told Stabroek News that the project is in keeping with the Prison Service’s strategic plan to improve the facility. “It’s part of a plan we have to not only make the prisons we have more humane and modern but also more secure,” Erskine said. He added that the project would not affect the housing of inmates.
Guyana’s prison system has long come in for harsh criticisms by human rights and other organisations due to overcrowding. Prison authorities have also had to contend with the smuggling of illegal items, including drugs, cellular phones and improvised weapons, into the Georgetown jail. Only recently a man accused of being in possession of marijuana escaped from the city jail. He is yet to be recaptured.
It was also from the Georgetown Prison that five inmates had bolted in February 2002, after injuring prison wardens, sparking off one of the country’s worst crime waves.
In addition to the Camp Street prison project, bids were also opened for the construction of an upper flat for the Brickdam lock-ups and construction of a police outpost at Santa Cruz in Region One.
Bidding for the construction of the upper flat of the Brickdam lock-ups were William Ferrell, $20,410,450; Gaichand Sookdeo, $18,893,286; Aura Engineering, $19,542,391; Pioneer General Construc-tion, $20,737,811; Horizon Construction, $19,170,184; Balwant Singh, $18,683,170; Navin & Son Construction, $18,869,290; and B&S Construction $18,754,697.
For the Santa Cruz facility, AAB Ragubir General Construction bid $12,164,871; William Ferrell, $24,000,000+; Pacific Construction, $16,350,000; and Sattaur Mohammed and Son Construction, $13,597,800. The engineer’s estimate was $15,398,746.
Also, bidding for rehabilitation works to police living quarters at Mandela Avenue were A Howard Construc-tion Service, $13,671,100; Pioneer General Construc-tion,$13,025,060; William Ferrell, $12,385,800; Mark Ally, $10,640,300; T Barrs Enterprise, $12,967,038; Wesley Haynes, $10,067,920; S.A. Associates, $12,728,300; O’Neil Jordan, $10,100,750; Aura Engineering, $14,816,140; Horizon General Construction, $12, 009,950; Balwant Singh, $11,042,910; Navin Deokissoon, $11,774,080; D&S Construction, $9,708,825; and Metric Short, $11,916,590. The engineer’s estimate was given as $13,767,840.
Meanwhile, with the procuring entity being Transport and Harbours Department, bids were received for the supply and installation of a point of sale computerised system at the Parika and Supenaam stellings. Two bids were received. CCS Guyana’s bid was pegged at $2,988,208 while Netcom Computer City’s bid was $2,662,695.
