Bids for Indian Arrival Monument...

before the 5th of May celebration. It was said to have been 85 percent complete at the time of the collapse.

The Linden-based company, Alternative Contracting Enterprise (ACE), had been awarded a $42 million contract to construct the base. The contractor had been paid $22.8 million up to that point.

At the time of the embarrassing collapse, the project was in its Second Phase.

The project was initially divided into three phases. Phase One was preparatory works, including the construction of an access road at the site and was awarded to Erron Lall Civil Engineering Works on September 12, 2016, at a cost of $43 million, following bids from 13 companies.

Phase Three entailed the landscaping and the finishing work at the site. Bids were received from 11 companies, and an $8.2 million contract for the work had been awarded to BK International. However, this aspect of the project was suspended, the Department of Public Information reported.

Stabroek News had reported in March 2017, that Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, together with the Indian High Commissioner, Venkatachalam Mahalingam, had unveiled a sign board depicting the monument at the chosen Palmyra location.

Nagamootoo, at that time, had reported to media operatives that $97 million had been allocated for the building of the structure upon which the monument would be placed. The US$150,000 bronze sculpture, the actual monument, had been paid for by the Government of India, as a gift to Guyana.