Government appointed acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba has said that she will be meeting Minister of Culture Dr Frank Anthony soon to discuss the restoration of City Hall.
In early April, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Roger Luncheon had said that rehabilitation of the building can run to in excess of $200 million.
“Cabinet also emphasized its resolve to fast track the planning of interventions into the rehabilitation of City Hall, as you may know or not know the building is threatened structurally, unsound and declared a dereliction by various knowledge experts’ opinion,” he added.
Sooba said: “I am so grateful that this building would not be allowed to crumble.”
City Engineer Colvern Venture informed that the estimate that was submitted from the council is under $200 million. “However the proposed $200 million that is to be expended by the government should be able to cover the restoration. However that is just an estimated figure. As works progress that figure may go up but most likely…that figure may vary,” he said.
Last April, Ihosvany De Oca Morales and Nigel Renwick, architects from TVA Consultants, a Grenadian company, visited Guyana to give advice on the restoration of City Hall and one of them was quoted as saying that it was in “cardiac arrest.”
Based on their assessment there were some issues that needed to be addressed immediately. Morales had noted that the restoration of City Hall was a peculiar project but added that the building was an important icon.
They had found that the “greater part” of the deterioration of City Hall was a result of water ingress. They also stated that priority should be given to finding a solution to the situation, which was seen as the key factor triggering many other problems.
Three years ago, government had given the council $20 million to assist with the rehabilitation of the building but only $5 million had been spent to repair windows.
