LA GUERRE RESIDENTS TO BE "PART OF THE BUILDING PROCESS" SAYS GAJADHAR AS CIE SIGNS CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF NEW LA GUERRE COMBINED SCHOOL

The Government of Saint Lucia (GOSL) has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) towards the cost of the Education Quality Improvement Project (EQuIP - the Project) and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds of this financing to the construction of the La Guerre Primary School.

Mr Gajadhar and Michelle Charles (Ms) at signing table. 

After the Government of St Lucia (GOSL), Department of Education (DOE) invited sealed bids/tenders from eligible bidders for EQuIP003A.2 - La Guerre Combined Primary School Expansion and Rehabilitation, our very own Construction and Industrial Equipment Ltd (CIE) was formally awarded the contract at a recent signing ceremony on Thursday April1, 2021  at the NIC building, Floor 3, Ministry of Education. 

Present at that ceremony were the GOSL and DOE officials in the persons of District Representative for Babonneau and Minister of Agriculture Hon. Ezekiel Joseph, Minister of Education, Hon Gale Rigobert, Permanent Secretary Michelle Charles (Ms) and Mr Rayneau Gajadhar, CEO/Team Leader of Rayneau Group of Companies Ltd., as well as their respective teams.

The contract works include, but are not limited to the following:

The new construction of a reinforced concrete building of part two-storey and part three-storey including a reinforced concrete roof and basement floor, of approximate total floor space of 15,233 sq. ft., of school teaching and administration space.  Set on a 15,500sq ft. lot, the facility is to house the La Guerre Primary School, to include an external area, open breezeway, retaining walls, parking lot area (including drainage) for staff and visitors' vehicles connecting to the existing roadway, wheelchair and pedestrian accesses to the building, septic system, and rainwater harvesting system.

Photos from the ceremony

In spite of the large cadre of bidders/tenders, both local and regional, CIE emerged the most qualified to handle this project. Among other qualification requirements to be considered for this job was the participation as contractor, management contractor, or subcontractor, in at least two (2) contracts within the last five (5) years, each with a value of at least three million eastern Caribbean dollars (XCD 3,000,000.00) or one million, one hundred and ten thousand United States Dollars (USD 1,110,000.00), that have been successfully and substantially completed and that are similar to the proposed Works.

Throughout the Caribbean, Mr Gajadhar’s CIE has maintained its reputable work ethics coupled with quality of work, consistency and on-time projects completion. According to Mr Gajadhar in his brief remarks at the ceremony, “We are going to put all efforts to ensure that we deliver a good product before the time. However I must also say that because the project is going up in the La Guerre area I will make every opportunity available to the people of La Guerre to be part of the building of the school.  In that way they will know what is going on how it is going on and feel that they were part of even twenty years later….”

Another official on Rayneau’s Team concurring with Mr Gajadhar remarks said, “We will deliver to the La Guerre Community and by extension the Government and people of St Lucia a class act school to the best of our ability.”

Work is expected to commence in the coming weeks.