AFTER years of continued deterioration, the iconic City Hall will soon benefit from major restoration works being undertaken by the 10-month-old People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government. As a matter of fact, the process began over the weekend with the release of a tender notice for the long-overdue repairs. Deadline for submissions to the National Tender and Administration Board is July 20, 2021.
In February, the Irfaan-Ali led government allocated some $100 million to kick-start the rehabilitation works on the picturesque neo-gothic-style building, which houses the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and the City Engineer’s office.

Designed by Fr. Ignatius Scoles, the building was constructed in June 1889, exactly 132 years ago. City Hall is perhaps one of the most iconic buildings in the Caribbean, and a prized tourism and heritage site for Guyana.
On Monday, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall said the first leg of the work is expected to be completed in 18 months.

Dharamlall said that he has already engaged the National Trust of Guyana, as well as the European Union (EU), which has always had a vested interest in the restoration of the 19th Century building.
It was actually the EU that had contributed 280,000 Euros, the equivalent of G$64M, for the financing of a Comprehensive Restoration and Sustainable Conservation Management Plan for the City Hall. Copies of the blueprint, which was crafted by Alanet Global and Euronet, in collaboration with their local counterparts, were handed over to the former A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government and the M&CC since July 2018.

“The European Commission and some other stakeholders have done a report, so that will be re-evaluated during the course of next week, and as soon as that is done, then we would be able to make some final determination,” Minister Dharamlall told the Guyana Chronicle in a previous interview.
He’d said back then that the project can be seen as the PPP/C’s unwavering commitment to enhance the City of Georgetown. “His Excellency [President Dr. Irfaan Ali] is of the view that we have to get City Hall restored,” the minister said. President Ali himself had pledged to develop the city, even without the cooperation of the Opposition-run municipality.
Dharamlall had previously explained that the government’s plan to take charge of ‘Operation Restoration’, was linked to the lack of transparency by the M&CC, and its inability to garner enough resources to execute the requisite works.

In responding to the Central Government’s initiative to restore the building, Georgetown Mayor, Pandit Ubraj Narine had pointed to the fact that the municipality is owed in excess of one billion dollars, and that this had hindered its ability to execute much-needed repairs.
Local assessments, including one done by the Guyana Fire Service, have deemed the once scenic building ‘uninhabitable’ and unsafe. Efforts have since been mobilised to have the majority of M&CC staffers temporarily relocated.

Minister Dharamlall said he hopes that the project will attract competent bidders who understand the importance of City Hall’s legacy. The Local Government Minister has also expressed the administration’s intention to include local stakeholders who have the knowledge and requisite interest in returning the building to its former glory. “We have a lot of people with local knowledge, and this involves a lot of detailed work and attention to detail,” Dharamlall said. He noted, too, that if all goes well, the first aspect of the restoration could be completed as early as next year. The Georgetown City Hall was officially commissioned on July 1, 1889, by Governor Viscount Gormanston.