The roof of the City Hall building where major restoration works are currently being done is expected to be completed within two months.
This is according to the Minister within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Anand Persaud.
Minister Persaud made this disclosure on Friday during a visit to the building where he inspected the progress of works being done.
During the visit, the minister engaged with an engineer of the contracting company, Fidis Guyana Incorporated, who related the extension of work that has been done and also informed the minister of additional work that they are yet to undergo.
Speaking with the Department of Public Information (DPI) at the site, Minister Persaud said that work is about 45 per cent completed.
“The roof should be completed within two months’ time along with the floor and the internal walls,” said Minister Persaud.
Meanwhile, based on the inspection, many works are still to be completed and as such, the company is expected to legally write to the ministry, requesting additional time for the project.
In 2022, the company was offered an extension with a promising timeline of June 2023.
“I cannot say what extension time they are looking at but once they write to us, we will take it from there and see what we will do,” the local government minister noted.
Another challenge facing the contractor is the constant availability of special sizes of wood that need to be cut. According to the minister, these sizes do not include the regular sizes such as 2 by 4, 1 by 6, or 1 by 4, but rather 9 by 9 and 12 by 12.
“What we found during our visit here is that because this is an old wooden building when we remove a part of the wall, we see the other portion being badly rotted and so that also needs a lot of work,” added Minister Persaud.
The project which initially cost $780 million was awarded and signed on September 24, 2021, to Fidis Guyana Incorporated.
However, due to extensive work that was yet to be completed, the government further intervened and allocated some $263.1 million in this year’s budget towards the project. Minister Persaud encouraged the contracting company to make sure that the work is diligently being done and that excellent quality must be possessed at the end.
