With reports of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) soon to take up residence at the multi-million-dollar government complex on High Street, Georgetown, the government has offered no clarity on the transaction. Currently, Caribbean Engineering Management Consultants (CEMCO) has workers at the site. The nature of their work could not immediately be ascertained.Official sources confirmed that the deal to pass the building over was done between the GGMC and National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), the agency that is responsible for holding and selling government properties.Officials at the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment are denying reports that the Ministry forced the GGMC to take up the building, and are instead insisting that the new facility is suited for the expansion activities of the GGMC.Meanwhile, contractor Kishan Bacchus said that he was the one who put down the 165,000 square foot facility, but is denying reports, including that from government sources that he was fired from the project.Bacchus told Kaieteur News that he was paid an estimated $160 million for the work he did. He said to complete the project would have cost much more, but that his contract was reviewed and he was asked to carry out works for the amount that he was paid.At his weekly post Cabinet news briefing Thursday, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon stated that the government had agreed that some of the workforce and certain types of functions of the GGMC would be moved from Brickdam.In 2011, then Minister of Labour, Manzoor Nadir, said that the complex, situated where the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) was once located, could have been completed by the end of that year.Construction on the building started some five years ago, and remains an eyesore, with several sections falling apart and the facility surrounded by bush.Nadir and Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, have been tasked by Cabinet to look into the completion of the building. At first, the government had said that the building would be used to house the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security. But that decision was abandoned.When the Ministry of Health was burned down, it was said that the building would, when completed, be used to house that Ministry.However, it was later indicated that the building would be used to house several government departments, to ease the rent the government pays for the use of several buildings around the city.Later, it was suggested that the building could house offices of the Guyana Revenue Authority, but with the building incomplete, nothing materialised in that regard.Kaieteur News understand that the GMMC was instructed to buy the defective High Street building for over $100 million, but it would have to spend many millions more to get it ready.The GGMC has just spent millions on a new building in its Brickdam compound that would have taken care of overcrowded offices and cramped conditions under which staffers now work. At the said time, the Agency is planning to hire more field staff to monitor the interior, adding to its current level of 125.Added to their financial burdens, the GGMC may be left with hefty utility bills as discussion on the issue of internet, water, telephones and electricity payments has not occurred. GGMC might also have to tighten its belt since the charge to repair the unfinished High Street building has been estimated at a whopping $600M.The Natural Resource Ministry said that efforts are ongoing to strengthen the human resources and technical capacity of the GGMC, coupled with the need for additional staff and services resulting in several components of the Commission such as the laboratory, library and other support services which will be relocated to the 44 High Street building.The release said that the “Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), an agency of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, is currently expanding its monitoring and compliance of mining operations in the various mining districts to complement the rapid growth of the mining sector.”As a result, they said, a Technical Evaluating Committee is currently reviewing bids for the design and rehabilitation of the said High Street building to accommodate upgraded laboratories,Cheap Jerseys 2018, cartographic section, and library.The release said that the GGMC has also completed the rehabilitation of two buildings at Upper Brickdam, one which is the stores to house spares and other supplies and the other, the administrative building which will accommodate staff of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, which provides support and guidance to the Commission.
