Even though the government has accepted that general elections have to be held soon it continues to spend big, announcing the clearing of $876m in contracts including $235.9 million for the construction of a maternity ward at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
HPS and Cabinet Secre-tary Dr Roger Luncheon made the announcements in his post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday, a release from the Govern-ment Information Agency (GINA) said.
Dr Luncheon also said no objections were offered for a contract valued $144.1 million forsea defence works at Friend-ship, in the public works sector. A $56.2 million contract was also given the go-ahead for the relocation of the instrument landing system and distance measuring equipment for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri. No explanation was given for why this was necessary.
Three contracts were green-lighted in the tourism sector. One valued $114 million and the other $106 million for the construction of one call centre each at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo and Enmore, East Coast Demerara respectively, and one valued $40 million for the digitisation of immovable records of Deeds Registry and linking to sub-registries. It is unclear if agreements have already been reached for the occupation of the call centres.
Dr Luncheon also announced that a $35.2 million contract was okayed for the procurement of ballot boxes, security seals and special paper for the Guyana Elections Commission and the other for the provision of Duracell batteries for the same entity, to the tune of $20M.
In addition, a $90.2 million contract was green-lighted for the procurement of reconditioned vehicles for the Guyana Police Force, and a $34.4 million contract was okayed for the provision of an ICT network for the University of Guyana.
