Dear Editor
Freddie Kissoon is beginning to lack objectivity and seems to have no care about spinning wild speculations. He needs to be more objective in his criticism. I criticise in an objective way and not about everything under the sun.
The Sanata Textiles deal is a good one. The government will get a rent of $50M every year. At the moment the complex is just an abandoned white elephant. Not only will the goverment get a rent, but also revenue from tax, while the country will benefit as a whole with the creation of employment. What more can Guyanese want at this stage in our development?
I suggest that the funds from the rent be spent on building a state-of-the-art prison somewhere in that vicinity even if it takes four years. This will be another tangible representation of what the return from the lease achieves.
Don’t just let the money disappear into the coffers. Don’t wait on some other nation to build the prison for us.
What Freddie can complain about is the lack of adequate parking by these businesses and companies that build these massive structures in Georgetown. I like the massive new structures. The structures represent development. What I have a problem with is parking.
The Mayor and City Council harasses private citizens, take forever to provide approval for the simple addition to private premises but don’t have the balls to modify their laws that state that businesses of a certain size provide x number of parking spaces for employees and x number for customers. An average of a third of the population now drives. Therefore if a business employs 21 persons, then that business must provide at least 7 parking spaces for employees and x number for customers. The M&CC needs to come up with a formula. I don’t have all the answers.
The government did this with the Caricom Secretariat and the Convention Centre. But most businesses don’t seem to have the vision to do this. Examples are the Republic Bank’s new headquarters and their new building at Camp and Robb Streets. The Water Street branch is also in desperate need of additional parking. The same is true for the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry branch on Water and Regent Streets. One hopes the CEO of GBTI has considered this necessity in the building of GBTI’s new head office and has acquired the requisite land to accommodate both the building and parking. If land space is a scarce commodity since we all insist on crowding Georgetown, then perhaps we need to modify our building practices and leave the ground floor of commercial buildings open for parking
Other examples where adequate parking is desperately needed is the Guyana Revenue Authority Head Office in Lamaha Street, Income Tax Division on Robb Street. The worst division is the Licence Revenue Office on Princes Street. One wonders why the government is wasting money on renovating this office when it is quite clear that it lacks adequate parking for employees and what is worse, it is a place where anyone who actually owns a car has to visit. A similar scenario is the Guyana Police Force vehicle examination centre on Brickdam. There are many others, such as the GPL offices on Main and Middle Streets and the GT&T offices in Brickdam and Church Road. In the case of the latter two companies, they provide parking for their employees and don’t give a damn about their customers.
Parking is a simple problem that can be fixed. It will reduce the chaotic traffic problems, frustration and help towards society being less stressful and more tolerant. Yet neither the government nor the supposedly concerned corporate citizens seem to care. There are a few exceptions. These are AINLIM, Banks DIH, Gafoors, DDL and Demerara Bank.
The government seems to be renting premises for some of its established offices. One wonders why this is necessary when the government owns so much real estate. What we need to do is modify our planning and building practices, and build a mixture of business premises and government offices that provide service to the public, in plazas. This way, shared parking can be provided for the various entities.
One desperately hopes that when someone in the Local Government Ministry reads this letter, that something is actually done and done now to begin to rectify this problem.
Yours faithfully
Ganesh Singh
