Chinese firm Haier Electrical Appliances Limited has committed to ship the initial 27,000 netbooks/ laptops to Guyana by air in order to meet the stipulated deadline set by government for the distribution of the equipment under its One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative.
Government last week awarded a US$ 7.5 million contract to Haier Electrical Appliances Limited to provide the first 27,000 net books.
Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir, who holds responsibility for the execution and implementation of the OLPF, disclosed that, “instead of waiting for a shipping day or five weeks between Guyana and China; when flown, the laptops would arrive in less than five days”. The laptop distribution process should commence within this month or early October.
Regarding the specifications of the netbook, the bid documents made it clear what the requirements would be. It is expected that the memory will be at least 2.0GB; a display screen of 10.1 inches; camera of 0.3 megapixels; two USB 2.0 ports; 1 RJ- 45; headphones; microphones; card reader; MMC/ SD video adaptor; integrated video with a genuine Windows 7 Starter; English operating system; at minimum, battery life will be two hours, and the netbooks should have the capacity to handle wireless data. In addition to anti-virus protection, the laptops should also have a one- year manufacturer’s warranty on parts and labour.
Minister Nadir made the comment during an interview with Guyana Times International, at which time he explained that preparations are going according to the plan envisioned by government.
Nadir reported that an intense verification campaign began last month, with the aim of identifying those who qualify to become recipients of the technological device. “Procuring the laptops is one thing, but another important process is identifying the recipients, who are likely to include single mothers, disabled people, children and under privileged families, among others,” Nadir clarified.
Already, some 6000 persons have been identified as having qualified for the laptops under the project based upon the criteria set out in the policy papers.
Nadir disclosed that an additional 50 verification officers are being trained to conduct the field work.
The labour minister said that the OLPF Committee has also commenced the establishment of learning hubs which will be set up at various sites around the country. “The intention is to create more than 200 learning centres, with each having the ability to train between 20-30 people at the same or one sitting,” the minister informed. Some 75 hubs are already completed.
Meanwhile, commenting on an Alliance For Change alternative plan to the OLPF project, Minister Nadir said that the policy is “backward and shortsighted”. He said that from the comments made by the party executives, he has come to the conclusion that they simply did not “listen carefully” to the ideology and concept behind the distribution of the laptops to families across the country.
“The AFC is out of touch with reality,” Nadir charged. He said the proposals made by the party, which was co-authored by Gerard Ramsaroop, seek to pilot the usage of desk top computers as opposed to laptops, but desktops are more costly when one considers the pricing of the peripheral gadgets and devices that would be needed.
“These desktops would need UPS devices and line conditioners which could cost US$40,000 in addition to the cost of the computers,” Nadir expressed.
He said that the peripheral devices plus desktop computers could cost more than Gy$105,000 as he reasoned against using the AFC plan.
Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh last week said that the Chinese company was one of three finalists of a group of 11. He explained that the bidders were evaluated against a comprehensive set of financial and technical criteria.
