–gov’t still committed to contributing $100M towards rehabilitation of City Hall, says Minister Dharamlall

THE Ministry of Local Government on Thursday presented the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) with a $30 million subvention to aid in the completion of construction on the new administrative building in the City Hall compound.
Considering the condition of the City Hall, there have been increasing calls for employees to be moved to a safer facility.
Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall said that the government remains committed to providing support to the M&CC, as it relates to the construction of this building that would serve to improve accessibility for customers and provide a better working environment for employees.
“This is part of government’s commitment to support the construction of the admin building. The President himself with the Ministers of Local Government and Regional Development, as well as the Mayor and the Minister of Finance agreed that $30 million would go towards the construction of the ‘admin’ building,” Minister Dharamlall said.
In 2019, $75 million was initially presented to the M&CC for the first phase of construction on the four-storey building.
The new building will be located in the south-eastern corner of City Hall’s compound, and once completed, will have an elevator, a room for the holding of statutory meetings, in addition to all of the other vital administrative departments.

Minister Dharamlall noted too that the government is committed to providing the M&CC with a subvention of $100 million for the rehabilitation of City Hall, which remains one of the country’s notable historic landmarks.
“The entire support we will be providing to the City Council includes $100M that will go towards the restoration of the City Hall building. We are aware that is one of the legacy buildings of Georgetown, it was a historic landmark in our country and it is on the front burner for our government.
“The president himself was adamant for us to get all buildings restored and so we have agreed to put $100M to the building as well,” the Local Government Minister said.
M&CC Councillor and Chairman of the Council’s Finance Committee, Oscar Clarke, who accepted the cheque on behalf of the Council, said it is a “timely intervention,” noting that the current structure at M&CC is a hazard to the safety of the employees who all are anxiously anticipating the new building.
“At the moment, City Hall is really falling apart and just last Monday, the Town Clerk was complaining that she did not want any of the structures falling on her and we had to do some emergency works to prevent that from happening, so I believe that this cheque is coming at a good time,” he said.
Further, he said that M&CC has budgeted $50 million for the project, which would bring the total budget to $80 million. Clarke noted that the building is expected to be completed by December, 2021.