Seven companies are lining up to transform the defunct Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara-based Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory into a state-of-the-art facility as part of Guyana’s effort to tap into the lucrative overseas livestock market .
This was revealed when the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) on Tuesday opened bids for the estimated $288,097,865 project for rehabilitative works at the facility.
The companies are Roopan Ramotar Investment, which made a bid of $315,829,349; Courtney Benn Contracting Services, $317,669,517; Dookie Construction Service, $254,546,215; Pioneer General Construction, $283,084,192; General Engineering Supplies and Services, $276,660,615; Nabi Construction Inc, $370,175,338; and Alvin Chowramootoo Construction, $266,117,412.
Dr. Mark Pierre, of the Guyana Livestock Develop-ment Authority, told Stabroek News that funding for the project was part of a US$6M ($1.2B) grant from the Inter-American Develop-ment Bank’s Agriculture Export Diversification Pro-gram (ADP).
Pierre said that it is the objective of Ministry of Agriculture to have the lab capable of undertaking constant surveillance and of testing livestock for new and emerging diseases.
The lab is key, he added, if Guyana is to export livestock. “It will be a state-of-the-art facility and we will be seeking accreditation from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the Pan American Health Organisa-tion, so that we will be able to export our livestock,” he explained.
“We want to be able to prove to the world that we can detect any disease and that our livestock is free of any disease and that it is excellent for human consumption… as it is right now, we cannot do this because no country can without a lab.
You cannot say with your mouth this or that is good, or they would ask: Where is your proof? Was it tested?” he added.
The lab will include microbiology, serology and histopathology units, along with equipment found in labs similar to its kind in developed countries.
Meanwhile, bids were also opened on Tuesday for the Construction of a Parking lot at Base Camp Ayanganna. G.Bovell Construction Service bid $5,046,825; Courtney Benn Contracting Services Ltd, $6,325,675; Elias Howard Construction Service, $6,598,050; and JP and S General Construction and Engineering Services, $6,485,525.
