The nation is being assured that restorative works being carried out at the iconic City Hall Building in Georgetown will be completed by the end of this year even as additional structural issues continue to surface.
Giving this assurance today in the Committee of Supply was the Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Nigel Dharamlall.
The Minister bemoaned the state of the historic building, noting that years of neglect have cast the structure into further deterioration.
“This building has been under the administration of the City Council for all of the years that the council has been in existence, and it is quite alarming that the City Council of Georgetown has left this building to rot over a number of years, and it is quite unfortunate that the office of the city, at one time, was in the City Hall. It became a national embarrassment for our country,” Minister Dharamlall told the committee.
He stated that in recognising that the well-being of the city takes priority over the politics of the country, President Dr Irfaan Ali in 2020, included the building under a broader initiative geared at beautifying the city. To this end, he noted that the additional sum of $263.1M was allocated in the 2023 National Budget to restore the building.
The Minister, however, noted that even as works progress, more structural issues continue to surface. He, however, assured that quality will not be sacrificed for expediency.
“Since this contract was signed, we have been steadfastly working. The restoration is quite an intricate exercise. And as we are working, we are finding many other things that need to be fixed, or restored as well. So, we will not fast-track this process, and compromise the quality of the work. But we have done tremendous work already, and so far, we are on time to complete the work by the end of the contract period,” the minister emphasised.
