…works on Kitty, Bourda, La Penitence to be completed next month

THE $39 million rehabilitation works at the East Ruimveldt Market has been completed, while remedial works on the Kitty, Bourda and La Penitence markets are all scheduled to be completed by the end of November.

The Bourda Market is being given a facelift at an estimated $32 million and $17.7 million is being expended on the Phase Two rehabilitation of the Kitty Market; $8.8 million is being spent on repairing several sections of the administration building at the La Penitence Market.

At the Bourda Market work on the roof is an estimated 50 per cent complete, while at Kitty work on the internal stalls is said to be about 80 per cent complete; at La Penitence only 10 per cent of work remains to be completed. The markets are being rehabilitated as part of the 2019 Georgetown Restoration Programme, which was allocated some $300 million in the 2019 national budget. The works are being managed by the Ministry of Communities (MoC), after they were selected by the Mayor and City Council (MCC) to be a part of the annual programme.

Coordinator of Engineering Services, Naeem Khan, heads the department at the MoC that is overseeing the works, and he said the ministry is highly satisfied with how the works went, and the accountability of how money from the programme was spent. “I think the Georgetown Restoration Programme this year, despite the late start, we’ve had great success as it relates to the pace at which these contractors are working. We are very much satisfied as it relates to the work. Even with the late start we were able to get all the projects done by the end of November, so we are very much happy that we were able to pull the programme off before the end of the year. And we have gotten good support from the council and the vendors that were affected,” Khan noted, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle last Monday.

The MoC found the need to take over the financial management of the annual programme after the programme had been cited for financial improprieties for three years. Though the money came from central government, prior to 2019 the money was handed over to the M&CC which handled the awarding of contracts and payments to contractors.

Over the years the MoC has been having difficulties getting the MCC administration to account for funds. The decision was taken in 2019 to have the MCC select the projects, but have the MoC handle the money. “All the accountability and payments and everything was done by the ministry. The ministry would verify the cost and do the valuation and everything, so we basically manage all aspects of the project. The council they were there to give the support, and in the supervision of the project as well, but in terms of accountability as it relates to payment, measurement and every other thing it was done by the ministry,” Khan assured.

Apart from replacement of the roof and gutters, works at the Bourda Market also include fixing of the windows and walls at certain sections of the market for added security, while there is also the rehabilitation of the sanitary block. “We’re concentrating on completing the roof first. Once we complete the roof we won’t have issues with logistics in terms of moving the vendors, and closing off this section and closing off that section,” Khan related.

“When we’ve finished the roof then we will look at changing the windows, putting in the sanitary facilities, painting and such.  Basically 70 per cent of the work is the roof, and that was successful. Some sections were closed while work has been going on, but the vendors were given notices, and they complied, so that has been moving fairly ok based on the report that we have. We worked with the council and the vendors as it relates on which section they need to close off. They had no major concerns as it relates to having to close; they were very understanding knowing it was for the betterment and improvement of the market.”

Vendors at the Bourda Market have been complaining and calling for repairs to the roof for over two decades now. Works at the Kitty Market is part of the continuation of the rehabilitation of the market which initially began in 2016. The project was initially started by the MCC, but over the years the project has faced multiple delays as the result of a cash-flow issue, which was blamed on poor financial management by past councils at the municipality. The MoC began intervening in 2018 to get the project back on course. With the external stalls already completed, Phase Two of the market project involves the completion of internal stalls.

“We have something like 41 stalls completed. We are in the process of completing it right now. The project is about 80 per cent completed, what’s outstanding is just some of the stalls at the side. So what we completing is all the stalls including shutters. The electrical stuff was done by the council. Other works like the tiling of the floor and the painting, those are the outstanding components,” Khan shared.

At La Penitence the works focused mostly on some admin infrastructural aspects. “La Penitence what we did, we rehabilitated the revenue office, also we constructed a new constable office along with a store room and then we construct a new sanitary facility, and that’s around 90% completed. They have some minor painting and such, and minor electrical stuff,” Khan said. At East Ruimvelt works started in August and ended last month.

“At East Ruimveldt the works entailed the rehabilitation of approximately 2000 feet of internal road. This is to upgrade the existing surface to asphalted concrete; also we did the entrances and we did the western access road. We also did the revetment on that road as well,” Khan relayed.