While the staff of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) struggle to work in its leaking, rodent-infested Camp Street Headquarters, the board is preparing to sign a lease with the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission so that they can be relocated.
“We still intend to build an office. We are actually now about to sign a lease with Lands and Surveys for the land [at Liliendaal] to build. That will, of course, take a while. In the meantime, we are working to fix the building we are occupying,” Commission er General Godfrey Statia told Stabroek News.
Statia explained that the agency was looking to cover the roof and seal certain areas which currently leak. He noted that even this process would take time as GRA has to go through the tender and procurement process.
Asked about the rats and cockroaches which staff have told Stabroek News abound in the office, Statia said, “Every building has rats and cockroaches. We have an ongoing contract with Rentokil and a month ago they were asked to address this issue, as I have received the same complaints.”
In August 2015, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan had told the National Assembly that government was looking to relocate the GRA as the Camp Street building was “not fit for occupation.”
The minister’s pronouncement came days after GRA Board Chairman Rawle Lucas told Stabroek News that the five-storey building was deemed “sufficiently safe” for continued occupation by experts from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.
Jordan had told the National Assembly that the building was found to be “structurally, I don’t want to use the word unsafe because it may frighten people, but let us say it is structurally not in keeping with the activity for the people in there.” He added that things were made worse by an earth tremor.
The tremor occurred in July, 2015 following which the building had to be evacuated. There were reports of it swaying and subsequently cracks were observed.
“So it is not a pretty sight when it rains even a little bit, to see umbrellas being opened in GRA…by people sheltering from rain,” he had said amidst comments of shock from his fellow government MPs. He said that as a result of even a “little rain,” there is flooding and this has resulted in documents being destroyed and lost.
“So we have to move immediately to see how we can improve the safety of the workers while they are there and as a medium-term measure look at the prospects of removing the GRA from there until that building can be made structurally and otherwise safe for human habitation,” he said.
GRA is renting the building from the ailing Nation Insurance Scheme (NIS) for $5 million a month. Jordan had told the National Assembly that even with this money NIS has been unable to pull itself out of its financial crisis, which has led to the inability to pay out even minimal benefits to contributors.
In October 2012, GRA began its move into the building but not before a consultancy firm was hired at a cost of $4.5 million to prepare the building for occupancy. Government later awarded a contract for $227.1 million to complete and modify the building so that it could be occupied by the GRA.
Lucas, during an interview with Stabroek News in August 2015, had revealed that the condition of the headquarters was cause for concern. He said that the experts, while concluding that it was “sufficiently safe,” had pointed out that a long-term solution was needed. Lucas, while noting that the comfort and safety of the workers were top priority, said the long-term solutions may culminate in GRA having a property of its own. He too had spoken about flooding and leaks whenever it rains.
Prior to occupying the Camp Street building, the various GRA departments were spilt up and located in different parts of the city. The move to Camp Street was intended to have all its operations in one location.
