— opening date still a mystery
THE official opening date for the soup kitchen, which was announced early last year to cater for some 2,500 persons daily, is still unknown; and Human Services and Social Security Minister Jennifer Webster has not yet managed to meet with the owner of Bakewell, Naeem Nasir, for an update on the project. The Chronicle asked Minister Webster for an update on the soup kitchen earlier this week, because it was supposed to have been opened since last August, but the minister said she has unsuccessfully been trying to get in touch with Nasir.
She was therefore unable to provide any information on the project.
The Human Services Ministry is collaborating with the management of Bakewell to construct the facility in Brickdam, next to The Palms geriatric home.
Speaking at the ministry’s head office at Cornhill Street, in Georgetown, last August, former Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand said that government was in no way funding the project.
“The frame is up. It is just a matter of filling in that frame, and I think he (Nasir) is procuring materials to do that now. The last time we had spoken he had said August, but I don’t think, as a lay person who is not too experienced in engineering business, that it can finish in August. We are already halfway through August, and it doesn’t look like it can be done,” the minister had said.
Minister Manickchand had said the kitchen would provide meals for 2,500 persons daily, including, but not limited, to persons who find themselves displaced and on the streets.
It is expected that beneficiaries will have access to bathroom and shower facilities and personal assistance, a fresh change of clothes, and food served free of cost from 11:00hrs to 15:00hrs daily. A take-away bowl would also be provided.
In a press release, Nasir had said that providing a soup kitchen has always been his dream and Minister Manickchand noted that the Government was “extremely pleased” to be engaging with a member of the private sector to further provide service to Guyana’s people, and would welcome other such initiatives by other persons.
Efforts made yesterday to contact Bakewell officials for an update proved futile. On one occasion, this newspaper was told that the kitchen, “is a personal project.”
Yesterday, Bakewell said an update would be provided in a week’s time.