As government awaits commencement of a major flood mitigation study on Grenville, Grand Anse and Saint George’s, designs for the Grenville Commercial Complex have been completed.
This was confirmed by chairman of the Grenada Commercial Complex Limited, Lyden Ramdhanny, during an interview with The Grenadian Voice on Monday.
“Documentation is being prepared by the Ministry and the project management team, with the objective of having (the project) out for tender by the end of February,” he said.
Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Implementation Senator the Hon Norland Cox, speaking at the January 19 post Cabinet press briefing, said the Board is “playing an integral part” in the design, management and implementation of the project. Confident that the flood mitigation study “will commence and complete before any major construction works within the Grenville area,” he said the study results will “help inform what is taking place and how we should proceed.”
Noting that flooding is a “critical issue,” Senator Cox said a tender for the study was issued and government awaits completion of the evaluation report on the bids; the preferred bidder should be announced in early February with work to commence thereafter.
The government allocated $8 million to the Complex, as announced in the 2021 Budget in which Minister of Finance Hon Gregory Bowen said “the preparatory work for the project is well advanced and construction will commence early in 2021.”
In July 2020 the Ministry of Infrastructure Development invited contractors to prequalify for bidding on the Complex and identified the Grenville Commercial Complex Limited as the executing agency. As the tendering process continues, Ramdhanny is expecting tenders to be awarded by mid-year “if not sooner.” As for the impact of flash flooding and poor drainage, he said the “Board can only advise Cabinet.”
Minister Cox told reporters that once the flood mitigation study is complete, “it will help really create an opportunity for us to see how we are going to move forward with the implementation of those works and to even implement remedial actions.”
In 2019, under the Public Finance Management Act, No. 17 of 2015, the government invested $510,000 in the Grenville Commercial Complex Limited for 51% shares of stock.
The Grenadian Voice, in an August 7, 2020 article, reported that the two main tenants will be the Government of Grenada and the Grenada Co-operative Bank Limited. Co-op Bank Managing Director Richard Duncan told The Grenadian Voice then that the bank will have much needed space on the main floor.
In delivering the Budget speech, Finance Minister Bowen noted that “while the main aim of the project is to house our District Revenue Office and the Public Library, the project will also facilitate the rental of commercial space to support the growth and expansion of the private sector.”
The project encompasses the area where the former Revenue and Post Office building is located on the Victoria Street side and where the former Saint Andrew’s Community Library is located on the Ben Jones Street side. Minister Cox said it is important to note that the Complex “is not something we are building from scratch.”
“So it is an existing building that is going to be renovated and refurbished to some extent,” he explained.
Minister Bowen had stated in the Budget the project will create an estimated 60 construction jobs.
