The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) today advertised for expressions of interest in designing a new headquarters for it at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.
The advertisement comes just 30 months after the GRA moved into its Camp Street premises in a much-criticised deal which saw it paying a monthly rent of around $5m to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) after the then PPP/C government spent $227m to retrofit the building for the revenue agency. The arrangement had been seen as a way of helping the NIS to recover from bad investment deals. The building was previously owned by CLICO (Guyana) Inc which had a large sum outstanding to the NIS when it collapsed.
Two and a half years later it is now clear that the building is unsuitable for the GRA on many grounds and a huge sum will now have to be expended to house the Authority at the Liliendaal location. The Camp St building has been leaking and during a recent earth tremor it started to shake, sparking panic among workers. The facility also has no parking space and this has led to massive traffic congestion on Camp Street. Another ill-fated decision had seen the GRA permit Chinese logging firm Bai Shan Lin to build a parking lot for it along Lamaha Street which would see customers and employees parking and walking to the Headquarters. The parking lot is now a white elephant.
In the notice today, the GRA is seeking consulting services for the design of the new building, the design of the building services including the electrical system and air conditioning and the development of a priced Bill of Quantities relative to the designs.
The notice said that a firm will be selected “based on a comparison of the relevant qualifications and experience of the persons listed to perform the services”.
Expressions of interest must be delivered in written form by November 13, 2015 as follows:
Construction of New Guyana Revenue Authority Office Complex
Attention-Commissioner General
Guyana Revenue Authority Head Office
200-201 Camp Street,
Georgetown,
Guyana
