The managers of Georgetown collect more than $2.1B in revenues annually, but “not a dime” goes toward fixing roads and clearing drains, says Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Nigel Dharamlall.
The city is still an “eyesore”, the minister lamented in the Committee of Supply on Wednesday, when the parliamentary body met to consider budget 2023 estimates.
Dharamlall told the committee that the Mayor and City Council (M&CC), which claims to be cash-strapped, cannot fulfil its mandate to pick up and dispose of garbage. He added that vendors are also forced to ply their trade in unsuitable conditions because of the council’s inability to provide basic services. Apart from that, the Minister noted that drainage structures are being neglected, with residents suffering whenever there is an intense deluge.
“Every day, they have vendors in Stabroek, Bourda, La Penitence, Kitty – elsewhere across Georgetown, in markets, who have some of the worst conditions to ply their trade. We have in Georgetown, drains that are clogged, we have pumps that are not working, and we have sluices that are left dilapidated,” the minister bemoaned.
He added, “All of these were supposed to be repaired, reconstructed, rehabilitated…However, not a dime from the revenue of the City of Georgetown led by the PNC council has gone towards fixing the drains in Albouystown, has gone towards fixing the drains in Sophia, has gone towards fixing the drains in Lacytown, Regent Street, Robb Street, Queenstown, Kitty, in Newtown, Campbellville, Cummings Lodge, in Kingston.”
Dharamlall said that the central government is then left to pick up the slack. He said that “hundreds of millions” of dollars are being doled out by the government to effect repairs to roads.
