The Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine, has blamed City Engineer, Colvern Venture and his department for an insouciant attitude towards their work which resulted in the incompletion of tasks for the year 2021.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the mayor stated that the City Engineer is making false claims and excuses for his department. “I cannot see why Mr. Venture would go to the public and say that he couldn’t achieve much (in) 2021 when he didn’t achieve (in) 2019 and 2020,” said Narine.
The mayor noted that on many occasions, resources were called for by the department and when they were bought no work was being done.
“There is a brand new mini excavator that Mr. Venture said he was in need of, we bought that new excavator, 14 million Guyana dollars, it sits in [the] stone depot, [and] when you ask why it isn’t being utilized the engineer said that the trailer required to move this excavator need some kind of wood.” Narine also contended that the department has no proper management.
Narine further stated that the finance is available to an extent but no proper requisition was being made by the engineer. “The Dorothy Bailey Health Centre on South Road was given a grant by an organisation which I believe is $1.8 [million] to paint that building, up to [now] we don’t know the status of that building, all I’m aware of is that some windows were put on. The money is there, but you have to ask whether if the requisitions were sent down.”
Late last December, the City Engineer held a press conference where he expressed his dissatisfaction with the accomplishments of his department for the year 2021. According to Venture, the key reason for the incompletion of many of the department’s tasks was the late or non submission of requisite materials for the specific areas of engineering that were called for. He also noted that many requests were made to the financial department about acquiring materials that were needed by the City Engineer’s Department but they all fell on deaf ears.
The mayor expressed the hope for a better management unit within the engineer’s department and that the various infractions will be corrected as the new year progresses.
