Although the current headquarters of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) have been deemed as “sufficiently safe” for continued occupation, board chairman Rawle Lucas says a long term solution for housing the agency’s operations is necessary.
The new GRA board held its first meeting on Thursday and Lucas said it generated several concerns that the board will be attempting to address through a renewed focus on the welfare of the entity’s employees as well as revenue collection.
In an interview with Stabroek News, Lucas said that this approach is necessary to ensure the efficient functioning of the Authority.
What has caused concern, according to Lucas, is the condition of the headquarters.
GRA is presently housed in the former CLICO building on Camp Street.
It rents the building from the Nation Insurance Scheme for $5M a month.
According to Lucas, there are concerns about the structural integrity of the building, which leaks like a sieve when it rains.
Cumulatively, it cost the government of Guyana $231.5 million to prepare the building for occupancy by GRA.
The Revenue Authority had hired a consultancy firm at a cost of $4.5 million under a competitive bidding process to prepare the building for occupancy and government later awarded a contract for $227.1 million to complete and modify the building so that it could be occupied by the GRA.
Yet, less than five years after the entity moved in in 2012, officers on several floors are flooding whenever it rains.
Staff members report to Stabroek News that the leakage is so bad that some have resorted to using umbrellas in certain parts of the building.
Lucas spoke of receiving reports from taxpayers that when it rains “water [can be seen] gushing down the side, inside the building.”
He stressed that the board is taking this matter very seriously and is taking steps to “ensure the environment in which the staff operates is friendly and accommodating.”
“We have already invited experts from Ministry of Infrastructure to examine the building and they determined that it is sufficiently safe for operations but a long term solution is necessary since the eventually extent of its possible deteriorating is unknown,” Lucas said, while emphasising that the safety and health of workers remain a priority and focus.
The long term solutions, he added, may culminate in GRA having a campus of its own.
He stressed that while the board is not dissatisfied with the current rent arrangement, it is concerned about the structure of the building and the working conditions created by its deficiencies.
“No one should be working under those condition. To the extent that it doesn’t seem possible that the building could be sufficiently rehabilitated to allay the concern and frustrations of the staff, we should now be attempting to find a more permanent and amicable solution to their work situation,” Lucas noted.
