Last year, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill announced that the government has taken steps to commence work which will see several interlinked government ministries and agencies, which are operating in different buildings, housed in high-rise, multi-storey office complexes.
One year later, on Tuesday during the consideration of the 2023 budget estimate of expenditure, Edghill told the Committee of Supply that the 12-storey high complexes will be constructed on lands at Houston, Greater Georgetown opened up by the recently constructed Mandela to Eccles road.
A total of $2.6 billion, approved in the 2022 budget, was paid to the contractor – Caribbean Green Building Inc – to be used as mobilisation advance for the office towers. The total cost for the project is set at some $15.8 billion, some five billion above what the government had projected.
The government is seeking a design and model for the buildings which is set to accommodate up to 6, 000 persons.
“We went out for design/build project and the bidders submitted design and prices…this project we have signed onto was determined as superior of the bids…what we are getting here is far beyond what the ministry had envisioned. It is an expanded scope and we are getting more,” he said.
Edghill insists that the contractor selected was the lowest of the four bidders.
In 2022, $2.6 billion was approved to start works on ensuring that the government can consolidate its services, which are currently scattered across the capital, into one location to improve the delivery of service.
The $2.6 billion was to be used on geotechnical studies, designs, supervisory services and advance payment for civil works.
In the same location at Houston, there are plans to also construct a hospital and a hotel among other major edifices and Edghill assured that geotechnical studies were all done
The first ministry to benefit from this move is the Ministry of Public Works and its agencies, which are currently conducting business from different offices.
The agencies that fall under the Ministry of Public Works, although housed separately, include the Maritime Administration and the Transports and Harbours Department.
