Indian funded ICT Centre to be in operation in April

The Governments of India and Guyana are collaborating on six projects which are nearing completion, in the areas of Information Technology, culture, infrastructure and transportation.

One of those projects is the setting up of an Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Centre of Excellence in Guyana. On Thursday in an engagement with the media, India’s High Commissioner to Guyana, Venkatachalam Mahalingam told reporters that the Centre is almost in its final state.

He related that an Indian public sector company, C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) has been identified and is conducting initial works.

“They are at a final stage of bringing one lead trainer that will be the head of the institute and two other trainers and once those persons come to Guyana, the courses have already been identified by the government of Guyana and the government of Guyana has to identify the students who will undertake the training.”

The National Data Management Building at the University of Guyana Complex has already been identified for the Centre.

The High Commissioner noted that by the end of April, the institute should be in operation.

In April 2016, Guyana and India signed a US$1 million Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the setting up of the ICT Centre.

The Ministry of the Presidency had said public sector professionals will be trained to ensure the availability of a highly skilled ICT workforce.

During the first two years of the project, training of trainers will be completed after which the facility will be handed over to the Government of Guyana.

Additionally, the High Commissioner told reporters that a company has been identified for the completion of a detailed project report and for the project management consultancy as it relates to the East Bank-East Coast road project.

The Indian company -RITES Limited is an engineering consultancy company, specializing in the field of transport infrastructure.

He noted that representatives from the company “will be coming quite soon to start the job of preparing detailed project report as well as starting the project management consultancy.”

The road project is being completed with a US$50M line of credit from the Indian government.
Other projects being undertaken by the two governments include the upgrading three primary health centres, provision of two ferries and a rice husk gasifier are also nearing completion, according to the Indian diplomat.