MINISTER of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Norman Whittaker is again urging the private sector to get involved in the $500M Clean-Up Georgetown project to make it a success story.

At a meeting of the Technical Committee of the Georgetown Solid Waste Management Programme on Wednesday at the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Kingston, Natural Resources and the Environment Minister Robert Persaud and Public Works Minister Robeson Benn met with subject officials from the Georgetown City Municipality and the Environmental Protection Agency to brief them on the progress made with regards to the multi-million dollar joint venture.

“It would be good to see business people coming together and taking responsibility for streets – they are among the biggest contributors of garbage, using vagrants to dump any and everywhere” –Whittaker.

It was at this meeting that Minister Whittaker noted that although there had been attempts to involve the Private Sector, “I am not aware that anything substantial has come out of those engagements.”

The Minister said that although efforts had been made to meet with representatives from the private sector, “we have pounds of paper reports and little that follows it.” He urged, however, that the sustainability of the all-encompassing project requires the active involvement of all stakeholders.
In recent times, Whittaker had urged members of the sector to take action to help to improve the garbage situation in the country.
He had said that while the private sector has been very vocal in the call for effective solid waste management, they have contributed considerably to the situation. He further said that while engaging the sector is not out of the cards, a more beneficial approach would be to invite the sector in each community.
“I would wish to see business people coming together and taking responsibility for streets,” the Local Government Minister stressed, adding that “the private sector makes the biggest noise and they are among the biggest contributors of garbage using social rejects [vagrants] to dump any and everywhere.”

COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS
He said: “If we engage the business people within the locale where they are familiar with the circumstances… [And] where they can be put under pressure by the people [of the community] to be part of the implementation and sustainability and where they have the local knowledge; it might be the better way to go.”
Whittaker said collaborative efforts with private sector entities would be facilitated through the Technical Committee of the Georgetown Solid Waste Management Programme. The Committee was established as an interagency effort and includes representatives from the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, and the Georgetown Mayor & City Council (M&CC).
The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment in June held a National Conversation on Solid Waste Management where subject Minister, Mr. Robert Persaud bemoaned that the private sector representatives had not attended the event even though they were invited.
The private sector is yet to communicate its willingness to be a part of the vigorous campaign for a better, environmentally conscious Guyana.

(By Derwayne Wills)