WORK on the redesigning of the Merriman Mall and the development of the Roxanne Burnham Gardens is moving apace, Town Clerk Royston King confirmed yesterday.
“Works are on schedule, and we are proceeding according to plan,” he said. “As known by now, we are developing recreational parks for children, among other interventions,” King told the Guyana Chronicle.Speaking of interventions, King said the most important of them all is what has come to be known as ‘The Presidential Project’, which is being developed on the eastern-most half of Merriman Mall.

The whole purpose to the exercise, he said, is to devote the entire area to adult recreation. “Through this project, we will seek to create a fitness and exercise section; a recreational area for seniors to sit, relax and enjoy a band, while we will put restrictions in place to ensure it remains green and open,” King said.
One of the things they’re not compromising on, he said, is allowing persons to stake claim to any particular area of the facility. The whole idea, he said, is to foster a sense of collective ownership, in that the facility belongs to everyone in Georgetown; hence no one will be allowed exclusive rights.
In terms of preserving the integrity of the facility, a fence is currently being erected around the perimiter of the entire Mall so as to prevent soil from slipping into the nearby trenches. As an added bonus, said trenches are also being revetted.
And in order to deter the parking of heavy-duty vehicles and suchlike on the shoulders of the road, the authorities have elected to erect roadside pickets at strategic points.
Apart from the foregoing preservative measures, a rate system is to be developed for those entitities which, because of the line of business they’re in, release heavy gases into the atmosphere. “We have to ask them to pay a little more to compensate for the environmental degradation,” King said.
Meanwhile, M&CC has reportedly been working assiduously on refurbishing bridges, rails and so forth, all in the interest of developing a ‘green’ economy.
Also, they are currently in the process of developing a community ground of sorts, whereby youths of all ages and from all walks of life can interact and engage in extra-curricular activities.

CHILDREN’S COMMITTEE
Plans are also in the pipeline to establish a children’s committee which will work alongside the M&CC on all youth-related projects. A case in point is a proposed Christmas Village.
“We will be creating a Christmas Village at Parade Ground, for which we will be taking advice from the Committee to finalise what should be showcased at the village,” King said, adding:
“We are working in consultation with the children on these projects, because we want a stakeholder approach; and as such, youth advocates are needed in order to help protect and preserve these facilities.”