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Millions needed to restore Le Repentir

Sep 03, 2010 News

– $$M more required for new facility

An average of $16M per month is required to maintain the existing Le Repentir Cemetery while an estimated $85M is needed to put in place a new burial site, City Mayor Hamilton Green revealed recently.
According to the Mayor when he first learnt that the capacity of the cemetery was diminishing he had written a letter to the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Kellawan Lall.
The letter was inked last year, according to Green, and was intended to remind the Minister that he had not responded to previous questions about a piece of land on the East Coast of Demerara to establish a new cemetery.
“Since that letter, however, engineers had looked at an area and determined that a portion of land which fell to the east and south between Princes and Sussex Streets could be used for burials.
The Mayor said that some time ago a committee was formed to address the state of the cemetery and also to seek assistance from the public in this regard “because we are out of space, but then again would require money.”
“We need additional space because it seems more people are dying from accidents, murders, etc. The new areas identified and the current estimate to do the drains and to build up the land was done so that it is feasible to bury people there…The latest figure seems to suggest a minimum of $85M to do this because it is old soil, and the ideal cost of maintaining the existing site is $16M a month,” the Mayor revealed.
And merely a fraction of the requisite sum has been secured by the Cemetery Restoration Committee which was put in place just over a year ago to address the state of the cemetery in the city.
“We have over the period of time raised $100,000 towards the restoration,” said Chairman of the Committee, Councillor Ranwell Jordan. He disclosed at a recent press conference the committee was able to involve some citizens who were prepared to lend a helping hand in restoring the cemetery.
According to Jordan, it was with assistance from the municipal Engineering Department that the restoration works were engaged at the cemetery by prisoners from the Georgetown Prison. The collaboration with the Georgetown Prison, Jordan said, saw some sections of the cemetery being cleared of massive overgrowth.
“You ought to be aware that we have about 23 sections in that cemetery where churches and other organisations use…It was the intention of the committee to get involved some of those organisations and other agencies to assist in the restoration of the cemetery.”
According to Jordan, a sum amounting to approximately $23M was proposed as required to restore the cemetery and about $10M as maintenance. This estimation, he disclosed, indicates the volume of work that is proposed to return the cemetery to an acceptable state. “Unfortunately we are further away from that goal, in that those who were working in the cemetery, that is, the prisoners, had to be withdrawn to do drainage works in the city, so at the moment nothing is happening in terms of the restoration….”
The Committee, Jordan said, is hoping to be able to meet again to plot its next move. He added that the Committee will be relying heavily on the expertise of the Engineering Department of the municipality to lend leadership in the restoration venture.

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