Fire Service HQ behind schedule

The new GFS HQ
The new GFS HQ

The Ministry of Home Affairs yesterday said that the new Guyana Fire Service HQ on D’Urban Lands is behind schedule and defects have to be addressed.

The Ministry in a statement said that it had noted a misleading article captioned, `Mohamed’s Enterprise delivers new $614.5M Fire Service HQ weeks ahead of schedule’, issued by I-News Guyana.

“The Ministry wishes to inform the public that on March 13, 2023, the keys to the new Fire Headquarters were collected by Ministry officials based on a conditional acceptance since the contracting firm, Mohamed Enterprise, indicated they were ready to demobilize from the site, leaving it unoccupied.

“The acceptance of the keys allows for inspections on possible defects determination and for the eventual issuance of a practical completion certificate”, the ministry said.

It added that neither a Practical Com-pletion Payment nor a Practical Comple-tion Certificate has yet been issued for this project.

“The building was not completed weeks before schedule, as stated in the article, but rather is behind schedule and is currently at 95% completion.

“A punch list of defects was sent to the contractor’s representative, which has to be addressed within the defect and liability period”, it added.