Georgetown—the city of dreamers

Oct 18, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
In the United States, the City of Philadelphia is known as ‘the City of Brotherly Love’, whilst in France, Paris is known as the ‘City of Light’. Here in Guyana, Georgetown should probably be known as ‘the City of Dreamers’.
Driving along North Road or Church Street, one is forced to view the abandoned and ill-advised Presidential Park and the area identified for a proposed ‘Petting Zoo’, both of which represent a wanton waste of the Georgetown Municipality’s’ supposedly scarce financial resources.
One can no doubt recall the grandiose plans by the now on leave Town Clerk for the construction of a modern and fancy three-storied shopping mall with special entertainment facilities at the New Vendors Mall and a similar edifice with parking facilities for farmers, wholesalers and other merchants at Bourda Green as part of wider plans to solve the vending crisis in Georgetown.
Of course this was just another ‘pie in the sky’ idea.
Then there were the impressive plans to establish a Municipal Training Academy, which we were told will offer training to all officers through the Human Resource Department of City Hall. It was supposed to aid in alleviating the lack of professionalism and build stronger departmental arrangements within the institution.
Well one just has to look at the dilapidated and decrepit City Police Training Center on Water Street (the former House Service Dept. Building) to understand where this grand plan is going. As they say, talk is cheap; there is no reward for impractical wishes.
Quite recently, the Mayor launched a fund to restore the iconic but derelict City Hall building, which is supposed to cost almost a billion dollars. This is to be managed by a special civic committee, which should have included corporate leaders, investors and other stakeholders from civil society.
Well the Mayor has less than a month in office, chunks of the building continue to fall off, and we hear nothing more of this special fund in spite of a recent high-priced Mayoral Dinner for this purpose.
The clock on Stabroek Market was to be restored and reactivated; the area in front of the Stabroek Market was to be transformed into a civic square to be used as a place of recreation for citizens; the Kitty Market, which was to be completed more than two years ago was to have air conditioning units, extractor fans and other means of ventilation; the meat and fish section of the market was to have refrigeration facilities, so as to meet public health standards. All just a sick joke.
Now we learn of a proposal by City Hall to introduce a 24-hour garbage collection system within the commercial district of the city. If they can’t pay the contractors for an eight-hour service, could someone say where they will get the cash to pay them to work 24 hours a day?
Sincerely
Anu Bihari

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