A supplementary allocation of $100M for City Hall’s renovation will be sought by government when the National Assembly reconvenes.
“City Hall got a new lease on life when Cabinet, at its most recent meeting…, pledged to provide $100 million Guyana dollars for urgent renovation works,” Head of the Presidential Secretariat Roger Luncheon announced yesterday.
Luncheon lamented on the state of the decrepit wooden landmark, while noting that currently estimates for the project were being undertaken.
Acting Minister of Local Government Norman Whittaker told Stabroek News that he could not give a date for when the works will commence but said that Cabinet stressed that it should be urgently addressed.
“We did agree that it should be urgently addressed but we have to go to Parliament for supplementary (provisions) to cover that cost,” he said.
Whittaker also said that estimates for works to be done are currently ongoing. He informed that the works will be done in phases, starting with the most critical areas.
Luncheon said that it is the hope of government that the rehabilitation works will encourage others to also contribute to City Hall’s restoration.
In April of this year, Luncheon had lamented the state of the building, which he said could collapse at any time,” and announced that the Donald Ramotar administration was eying comprehensive renovation and had strongly resolved to fast-track interventions.
However, Luncheon did not state when the renovations would begin but he did add that interest in the building surfaced recently.
The City Council and many members of civil society had been appealing for years for the government to do something about City Hall.
Visiting Architects Ihosvany De Oca Morales and Nigel Renwick, from TVA Consultants, a Grenadian company, had also advised on the restoration of City Hall and one of them was quoted as saying that it was in “cardiac arrest.”
Renwick added that some issues need to be addressed immediately.
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.
