President Irfaan Ali today committed to an advance payment of taxes to City Hall to the tune of $100M and he also raised the implementation of a `Single Window Permitting System’.
According to a release from the Office of the President, Ali made the interventions during an engagement with the Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine, the Deputy Mayor Alfred Mentore and a ministerial team at State House.
President Ali and the group discussed a range of issues affecting City Hall as well as ways of strengthening the relationship between Central Government and the Mayor and City Council (M&CC).
The President called City Hall and its adjacent buildings important historical sites that need to be maintained.
“These things will cost a fortune to rehabilitate. But we have to start. We will pay a sum of the Government taxes in advance towards these projects. So we can have approval on that, so you can move that forward,” he told the Mayor.
In this year’s budget, the government has set aside $100m for the rehabilitation of the decrepit City Hall.
Senior Minister within the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall and Minister within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Anand Persaud were also in attendance.
Among the other areas discussed was the implementation of a ‘Single Window Permitting System,’ which will address issues of slothfulness, the release said.
“We all know whether it’s the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), whether it’s the NDCs, or the City Council, our greatest criticism is slothfulness in which things take time to get done in terms of approvals and so on. And at the end of the day, it is the elected officials who get the blame. So the first thing I think we have to do is look at a modern permitting system that integrates all agencies via health, the city, CH&PA etc., into one single window. So when an application comes, it goes to everybody simultaneously”, the President said.
According to the Head of State, this mechanism will also address corruption and will go a long way towards improving the investment climate in the city itself.
In addition, the team discussed the ‘sprucing up’ of the capital, especially for the 55th Independence Anniversary and the allocation of funds to make this a reality.
According to the release, the Head of State said too that the issues of congestion and parking had to be addressed. He proposed that the City Council work with the Private Sector for the enhancement and maintenance of parapets and drains in key parts of Georgetown as well as the construction of modern parking facilities.
The President added that collaboration between Central Government and City Hall is vital in addressing key and critical issues which affect the city.
“How do we build a deeper, more structured relationship between what the Government does and what the city does? I understand that at the level of the Council the type of arguments that are made there, there are different political interests there, but there must be a place in which you can reach out to the Minister, and we can discuss important issues that are critical and key for the city itself”, he asserted.
The release said that Narine assured the President that as Mayor, he is willing to work along with the Government for the benefit and development of the city and its citizens.
“I know you have spoken many times about procrastination, at the level of many agencies within the M&CC. We want to discuss how we can be able to implement some of your strategies, some of your vision so that we can be able to work with the investor and the business community at large, so that we can be able to deliver in a more timely manner”, the release added.