St8ment Investment Inc awarded contract to construct 20 young professional houses in Amelia’s Ward

St8ment Investment Inc, the new construction company that was awarded the contract to construct the $346 M Bamia/Amelia’s Ward Primary School, was also given a contract to construct 20 young professional houses in Amelia’s Ward. The houses are currently at the foundation stage. This was relayed to councillors of Region 10 RDC, during a meeting with representatives of the company, Mr. Rawle Ferguson and Mr. Aubrey Major.

The councillors, including Regional Chairman Deron Adams, took the opportunity to grill the new contractors on the highly  debated awarding of the contract and the execution of it. In response to a question posed by Councillor Norris King, the company owners said they do not have a track record to show whether they would have successfully executed a public project but they would have managed construction of their own and was recently awarded the young professional houses. They alluded to the HJ Water World resort facility located at Providence, East Bank Demerara, as one of the construction projects they had successful oversight of.

Ferguson said he moved to tender for the project after seeing an advertisement in the Kaieteur News, because he was inspired to create jobs for the people of Linden. “Our main aim is to build and create jobs. Linden has inspired me for so many years and we want to do something that is really good in Linden, to create jobs,” Ferguson said.

The mega entertainment company, recently took over management of Linden’s Radio Station – 104.3 FM. The councillors then asked whether the company possesses the necessary equipment to execute a project of this magnitude and they revealed that as is done in other cases, equipment will be rented, while others will be purchased as time progresses.

 The awarding of the contract which was facilitated by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, received widespread condemnation, as the company is fairly new and its directors are associated with the present administration. According to reports, the company was removed from the register of companies in March 2021. Bids were opened in July and four companies bid for the contract. The other companies are : Bulkan Timber WorkS Inc, Orin’s Supreme Enterprise, A Nazir & Son Contracting & General Supplies. A Nazir and Son Contracting & General Supplies submitted the lowest bid which was $340, 549, 671, however it did not secure the contract.

Strict monitoring will be done

The elected officials made it clear that the council is not against the project being executed or the company it was awarded to but is doing the necessary due diligence, to ensure tax payers and the residents of Region 10, get value for their money. “The council has been very vocal, we have been in the fields, we have seen a lot of substandard work as relates to road construction,” Regional Chairman Deron Adams said.

St8ment Investment Inc, held a simple sod-turning exercise on Thursday, the Contractors said construction is expected to commence in a matter of days. The school will accommodate approximately 780 students and will include smart classrooms. The contractors vow to utilise up to 80 percent of labour from Linden.