COUNCILLOR Ranwell Jordan Wednesday said that “a massive, massive approach” is needed at present to clean and maintain Le Repentir cemetery in Georgetown.
He told the Guyana Chronicle on the telephone that there was nothing positive to report about the cemetery and that minimal works are being done by the Engineers Department of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC).
Jordan, who is also a member of a committee established to look into the affairs of the cemetery, said the committee had its first meeting for 2010 in the latter part of last month when a member volunteered to seek assistance from overseas for the cemetery.
At present, he said, Ms Sharon Harry-Munroe, who is acting for Ms Yonette Pluck, is unable to call meetings in connection with the cemetery.
Though the Engineers Department is doing its bit, Jordan said the Council is not working at the pace that it had anticipated. Prisoners who were formerly sent out to work in the cemetery are now engaged in drainage works across the city.
As a member of the committee, Jordan said he just was not getting the type of support that is needed from officers of the Council so that work at the cemetery could be pushed forward.
Jordan told this newspaper last month that the M&CC was in discussions with the Government to identify a new burial ground and replace Le Repentir Cemetery, which is now all used up.
But Ms Pluck, in a telephone interview, said there has been, so far, no movement.
According to her, the municipality, looking to cease burials at Le Repentir, has identified a place at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.
Meantime, she said private persons are interested in operating a crematorium at the same location, while the M&CC wants to begin using its selected alternative by early next year.
Pluck said operations at Le Repentir can continue because some of areas have been cleared and made available.
She said once Liliendaal is in use, relatives of the deceased would be required to maintain the tombs at Le Repentir, or at least contribute to good maintenance of the surroundings.
Pluck said, too, that the municipality is seeking to establish a contract with the Georgetown Prison for its inmates to be engaged in cleaning projects at the cemetery, using a bank account previously established to receive donations for restoration works.