By Tracey Khan – Drakes
[www.inewsguyana.com] – The Ministry of Local Government & Regional Development today [Wednesday, October 22] signed and handed over three contracts for two projects that will see upgrades and construction work being done to the Annandale and New Amsterdam markets.
A tarmac and sanitary Block will be constructed at the Annandale market on the East Coast of Demerara and extension works will be done to the New Amsterdam Market in Berbice.
The tarmac at the Annandale market will be constructed by STP Investments to the tune of $14.426M, while the sanitary block at that tarmac will be constructed by Deokie Construction Services at a cost of $2.268M.
The extension work to the New Amsterdam market will be done by Ravin Ramdolar Construction Company to the tune of $3.135M.
This forms part of government’s solid waste management improvement project, which is being funded under the Brazilian, Indian and South American Trust Fund project.
It is being implemented by the Local Government Ministry and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Colin Croal explained that the other components of this solid waste management project includes the expansion and rehabilitation of market tarmacs in several regions to eradicate road side vending which is the main contributing factor for the indiscriminate dumping of garbage.
The allocation for 30 garbage bins, two compactor trucks and two mini excavator and public awareness sessions are all components of the project.
He added that construction work on the market tarmac at Anna Regina is nearing completion, while tarmacs will be constructed at the Rosignol, Rose Hall, and Linden Markets at a total cost of $144.279M.
While Deputy Representative of the UNDP Chisa Mikami congratulated Government on its efforts to ensure the country’s waste is properly managed, she noted that this is just the beginning since the implementation and completion is the key to the investment.
While Minister of Local Government Norman Whittaker boasted that of Government’s efforts to ensure citizens waste are properly managed, he noted that road side vending has proven to contribute significantly to the dumping of garbage.
“Illegal vending, road side vending has been a significant contributor to the solid waste problem in this country, I recall that when vendors used the market facilities we did not have this problem that we have been encountering over the past 10 to 15 years and so this project provides opportunities for us to provide such facilities where they don’t exist.”
The project will last for a year and commenced in April 2014.
