Contracts worth $500M signed in water sector

– 48,000 Berbice, Essequibo residents to benefit

The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) yesterday announced that some 48,000 residents will benefit from improved supply when the $500 million Transmission Main contracts under the Water Sector Consolidation Project are completed.

The Government of Guyana and the World Bank are funding the project and contracts were granted to Suresh Jagmohan of S. Jagmohan Hardware Supplies and Fizal Mohammed of DAX Construction Services.

According to a GWI representative, the project is divided into three lots. Lot one and three were granted to S. Jagmohan and Lot two to DAX.

Lots one and three are valued at $223,840,000 and $62,960,000, respectively. Under these contracts, S. Jagmohan is responsible for the installation of transmission cables and zone meters from Walton Hall to Queenstown on the Essequibo Coast and from Inverness to Shieldstown on the West Coast Berbice.

DAX Construction’s $191,458,314 Lot two contract will cover installations from De Kinderen to St Lawrence, East Bank Essequibo.

Karan Singh, Chief Executive Officer of GWI, pointed out that since the lots would be worked on simultaneously the time set for the completion of the project is six months and he warned the two companies that any substandard work or unexplainable delays would be dealt with seriously.

Singh added that a countrywide disconnection campaign will begin on March 17 to recover over $5.5 billion in arrears from delinquent customers.

“We will no longer tolerate or treat lightly those customers who blatantly steal, use and abuse water and avoid paying for the service,” he firmly stated. “There has to be some respect for water from those customers who receive the service and refuse to pay… they need to make their fair contribution if GWI is to further develop the sector.”