The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development today issued an invitation for bids for the restoration of City Hall.
Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall had told Stabroek News last week that the tender would be out shortly.
The notice in today’s Sunday Stabroek said that the duration of the project is 18 months.
The invitation will be seen as a major first step towards saving the crumbling, historic building which has languished for years and was recently ruled again as unfit for occupation.
Dharamlall had last week told Stabroek News that the government will be leading the process for the restoration of City Hall. The minister said he had spoken with City Mayor Ubraj Narine regarding the relocation of staff from the decrepit building. He noted that Sherry Jerrick, Town Clerk (Ag), did indicate that the council had already begun the process of moving staff.
In a recent inspection done on the City Hall building, City Engineer Colvern Venture concluded that the building has deteriorated further and urgent relocation of staff is necessary. This assessment coincides with the Guyana Fire Service’s own assessment of the City Hall building. Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo, in a brief comment, said the City Hall building early in 2020 was inspected and various deficiencies were found. Subsequently, it advised that the staff relocate.
It is unclear what full restoration of City Hall and the preservation of its aesthetics will cost.
The original construction of City Hall was completed in June 1889. It was designed by Fr Ignatius Scoles.
Comments
Let the people that did the renovation of St George Cathedral , restore City Hall, as they did a good job restoring St George. It will cost over 700 million if the renovations are done very carefully and to exact scale of the original.scale,
It’s good to hear that the Ali administration is now taking steps to restore City Hall. Like Pedro pointed out above, I am not sure whether the allocated funds are sufficient to do the job well and throughly enough. 100 million GYD or 0.5 million USD seems like a drop in the bucket!
Good news…many major countries use the Lottery to raise money for restoration, in these cases it became ongoing and very successful…
Lotteries in Guyana are run by outside entities.
Most of the profits go outside Guyana.
The statues in St Georges are all painted very crudely. I don’t think Guyana has the expertise for such renovations.
“I don’t think Guyana has the expertise for such renovations.”
HA HA Good to know..