Rental for temporary Magistrates’ Court location climbing

Mar 01, 2013 News

For two years now, Government has been renting a building at Middle Street to alternatively house the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. The rental for the temporary location is obviously climbing as additional works to modify the Court’s original (Avenue of the Republic) premises is ongoing.
As at the end of February 2013, Government paid $52.8M in rental for the alternative building. Last year, Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill, had said that Government wanted to stop renting the premises in February (2013) month-end. But, that has not materialised.
Sources have indicated that the rental could be far more than the aforementioned figure, with the monthly cost being in the vicinity of US$25,000. Government began renting the premises in March 2011 at US$11,000 (G$2.2M) per month. This accumulated to more than the reported “just under $50M” the landlord paid for the building from the now defunct Globe Trust and Investment Company limited.

The Georgetown Magistrates’ Court is still being renovated

According to Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, during a brief interview with this publication yesterday, construction works are still ongoing at the Court. He noted that Government will continue to rent the building at Middle Street until those works are completed.
He indicated that there is more construction to be done in addition to the current modifications but that will be undertaken by another contractor.
Meanwhile, according to Evadney Mangar, Project Co-ordinator of the Justice Sector Modernisation Programme under the Supreme Court, the additional works identified by the Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Carl Singh, and undertaken at a cost of $20M, have been completed.
She had opined that once those works were completed by February month-end, Court proceedings could have been accommodated as of March 1, which is today.
Justice Singh had requested extra works totalling about $170M, but following negotiations with Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the loan provider, specific works totaling $20M were approved.
PD Contracting Services, who renovated and rehabilitated the Court for $88M, was tasked with installing an independent walkway for Magistrates, construction of the sanitary facility, and ensuring adequate water pressure.
According to Mangar, the contractor has expanded the building to accommodate four additional courtrooms, increasing the number to nine. Those works cost $69M. Moreover, the old building was rehabilitated at a cost of $19M.