Bus purchased to transport Region 10 students yet to be delivered
Beharry and they later showed us a different bus from what we had originally wanted and I informed then that the bus that they were suggesting is one that we would encounter severe difficulties when seeking the spare parts, therefore we refused that bus. They were told that we wanted the Coaster 30 seater and up to now we are unable to have the bus that we paid for.”
The REO expressed optimism that he was hoping that by today the matter would have been addressed as they are also seeking to have the duty-free concession from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) for the vehicle. Some councillors questioned why the duty-free concession was taking such a lengthy time.
The Regional Chairman, Renis Morian, also did not hesitate to express his frustration over the matter. He queried as to what arrangements were put in place to ensure that the students are not affected by the delay.
Morian said that he is cognisant that the duty-free concession can take a while disclosing that he has benefitted from two duty-free concessions and had it not been for the excellent relationship that he shares with some of the GRA officials his wait would have been much longer.
“I know the process and I can tell you that it can take as much as two months to get your duty-free letter but I was fortunate to not wait this long because I knew persons within GRA who could have assisted me in speeding things up,” the Regional Chairman was quoted as saying. He promised to intervene personally if by Monday the matter was not resolved. “We have school opening on Monday January 7 and we still can’t get the bus that was paid [for]since September last year, that is really unacceptable and I am being open and say that I am not pleased because the welfare and interest of our region’s children should always be our number one priority,” he declared.
When quizzed as to what systems were being put in place for the new school term, Regional Education Officer (REDO) for Region Ten, Rabindra Singh, pointed out that the department has a ‘Pitbull’ bus that they use for the department and would use this temporarily to transport the students . Singh said that he has already put the relevant systems in place and would be reaching out to both parents and students during the course of the coming days to inform them how the arrangements would work regarding the ‘Pitbull’ bus doing the pickups.
He disclosed that because of the number of students who would be affected with the delay of the new bus, the ‘Pitbull’ will be making two trips so as to ensure that no child is adversely affected.