WORK is set to begin in the first quarter of this year on the highly anticipated $15.8 billion state-of-the-art government office complex, which will house numerous ministries and government agencies, according to the Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill.
During an analysis of the trillion-dollar 2024 national budget, Minister Edghill stated that the Government of Guyana, in its mordernising on a transformational agenda, will build a modern office complex inclusive of four towers, 12 stories high, with the capacity to accommodate approximately 6,000 staff.
According to the Public Works Minister, the state-of-the-art office building is set to be built on 20 acres of land in the ‘highly connected and developed’ area of Houston, East Bank Demerara, approximately 1 km from the new Eccles/Haags Bosch, also known as the Jaguar roundabout.
“This office complex will give people access as they come over the New Demerara Harbour Bridge, people out of Georgetown using the Eccles-Mandela interlink, people coming from the East Coast using the new Eccles, Providence roads, which are the East Bank and East Coast link roads that are being built by the Indians,” Minister Edghill related.
With the aim of alleviating the hassle for citizens to travel to the different ministries throughout Georgetown, the minister also outlined that the new facility would meet all of the criteria in order to provide services to the public in the most effective way possible without having to deal with parking issues or traffic congestion. “People will be able to get government services in a modern facility without getting into the congestion in Georgetown,” he explained.
Meanwhile, at his 2023 press conference, Minister Edghill said, “rather than people running from different places to get service from an agency, several agencies will be in one complex. So, when you drive there, park, and come out, you could get several services done.”
The contract for the facility was signed on December 30, 2022 with Caribbean Green Building Inc. and is set to be completed within 30 months of the beginning of construction.
Edghill noted that the $2.6 billion, which was approved in the 2022 budget, was paid to the contractor, to be used as a mobilisation advance for the office towers as well as to facilitate geotechnical studies and designs. Edghill also stated that $4 billion was allotted “to cover costs associated with steel and other associated pre-fabricated, and quantity being vetted by engineer (VIKAB engineering).”
He said the Ministry of Public Works is currently conducting its business from several offices due to the lack of space, and as such they will be the first to profit from the move after completion. He added that while the Maritime Administration and the Transports and Harbours Department are agencies under the Ministry of Public Works, they are housed independently.
According to him, Budget 2024 “is people-centred, focuses on people, a budget that is geared at improving the lives of people, and takes care of a number of issues that were not addressed before.”
