Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, says that a lack of electricity is largely to blame for the delay in the commencement of operations at the newly built passport and immigration offices at New Amsterdam and Linden.
“Well we don’t have power…in Berbice we’re waiting for them [GPL] to tell us how much money we have to pay for the connections. I think we have just overcome that with New Amsterdam and they should start up sometime shortly but once we get the power we move in. We just waiting for power,” he said.
With regards to a similar office at Lethem, he said that that contract is with the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). “Hopefully there is movement on this later on in the year. That is why I sent it forward because I hope it would get going this year,” he said.
Felix had previously said that offices will be built at Bartica and Mabaruma as well.
These offices will facilitate the collection of passports and the issuance of those documents when they are ready, thereby reducing the hassle of having to travel to Georgetown to access passport services.
