$225M spent on Georgetown Clean-Up Project

AS THE December 2014 deadline approaches on the $500M Georgetown Clean-Up Project, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Colin Croal reports that $225M have been spent so far on the citywide efforts. 

Speaking at the Ministry’ Boardroom, Kingston recently, Croal commented on the progress of the works which began earlier this year.
The extent of the works included the de-silting of the seven main canals at Downer Street, Young Street, Lamaha Street, Irving Street, Princes Street, Sussex Street, and Church Street.
Other works included the maintenance of sluices at Meadow Bank, Ruimveldt, and Lamaha Street. $100M was similarly allocated for works to be done on Le Repentir Cemetery
Commenting on the progress of the cemetery clean-up, Croal said that the cemetery was divided into seven blocks. The Permanent Secretary added that Blocks 1, 3, 4 and 5, which were done by private contracts, show completion rates between 50% and 95%. Meanwhile, Block 7, which sparked some controversy over the use of prison labour, shows some 90% completion.
Blocks 2 and 6, he stated at the time of the interview, were not completed due to tenders not being sent by the National Procurement Tender Administration to Cabinet for approval.
Moreover, the Local Government Ministry will be awarding contracts for works to be done on the internal roads in the cemetery.

FACELIFTS
Meanwhile, 20 communities were given facelifts under the project and Croal reported that while some community works have been completed, others are currently in progress. These include Festival City, Tiger Bay, Durban Backlands, Wortmanville, and Roxanne Burnham Gardens, to name a few.
He said too that while the ministry had not initially commenced works in the Cummings Lodge area, since private residents were completing those works themselves. However, the residents have approached the ministry and a collaborative effort is underway in which the ministry will fund some of the operational costs.
Croal disclosed that there were contracts signed during the course of last week for community clean-up works in Alberttown, Atlanticville, western Campbelville, and Riversview.

SANITATION TRUCKS REPAIRED
While it was previously identified that the City Administration will be responsible for sustaining the progress after the works have been completed, the Permanent Secretary said that the rehabilitation of the vehicles belonging to the Georgetown Mayor & City Council (M&CC) will continue as some of the Council’s sanitation trucks have already been repaired and are currently serving Central Georgetown.

(By Derwayne Wills)