Major works planned for UG with $202M approved allocation

Dec 24, 2016 News

The University of Guyana is expected to undergo a number of upgrades and changes in 2017 as the government of Guyana through the Ministry of Education plans to spend a total of $202M on the Tertiary institution.

Minister Nicolette Henry

This information was divulged in the Committee of Supply of the National Assembly this week by Minister within the Ministry of Education, Nicolette Henry during the consideration of the 2017 estimates of revenue and expenditure.
She said that the University will be getting a new Administration building at the Turkeyen Campus. A total of $6.5M is to be expended on this particular project. The Administration building houses several important offices of the institution, inclusive of the examinations department, office of the Vice-Chancellor, along with those of the Registrar and Assistant Registrar.
Before work commences on the building, Minister Henry said that consultancy work will be done first at a cost of $140,000. Further, she said that the University will get an additional lecture theatre which will be a rollover project from 2016. This will cost government $5M with a consultancy of $200,000.
The library will not be left out in this project as the Minister indicated that the building will undergo re-wiring at a cost of $1.5M. Henry also informed the House that there will be the construction of a teaching and learning complex for science and mathematics at the Turkeyen campus. This new addition will cost government $69M.
The Ministry plans to also install a regulator for $24M. The University’s Pere Street, Kitty building is expected to be rehabilitated at a cost of $12.5M. That location has been designated as the Office of the Pro-Chancellor. Henry said that there will also be a new maintenance building to cost $37.8M, a new generator at $24M and a tractor with slasher to cost $22M.
The project entails the construction of a maintenance building, rehabilitation of the University’s Pere Street building and provision for generator, voltage regulations, tractor and slasher.
As it relates to work which had begun and was not completed in 2016 but will be rolled over in the New Year, Henry said that the construction of the new admin building, the construction of the lecture theatre and the re-wiring of the library are the only projects which would be rolled over.
In 2015, central government had expended $35M towards the project and another $157M was spent in 2016. There is no foreign funding being spent on this project. The benefits to accrue from these works would be to improve education delivery, operational efficiency and accommodation.