The restoration works ongoing at City Hall
This was outlined by Minister within the Office of the President with the Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh. During the reading of the national budget on Monday, Dr. Singh outlined that the additional sums will be diverted to City Hall for the completion of the building.
He disclosed that “This year an allocation of $263.2M is budgeted for restoration of the building. In 2023, works will also advanced at markets in Charity, Parika, Leonora and Mon Repos.”
The statement by Dr. Singh came days after Local Government Minister Nigel Dharamlall disclosed that contractors have been encountering more damages than they had initially anticipated, while working to restore the badly deteriorated City Hall
The Minister said notwithstanding these challenges, the works are still on track for the June 2023 completion.
“When the contractors started removing different panels and components, they started seeing much more damage than we had anticipated,” he said.
As such, Dhramlall said that while he believes that restoration is important, getting it done properly is more important.
“So I’m not really worried about the restoration going beyond the time frame, in the sense that it might go beyond time,” Dharamlall added.
In addition to the sums allocated to City Hall, it was noted that for 2023, the Government will continue to commit to the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development, National Pathway Workers and the Community Infrastructure and Improvement projects, with an additional $13.5 billion budgeted.
Last year, the government successfully launched the National Pathway Workers Project and maintained the Community Enhancement Workers Programme, employing over 12,000 persons and improving infrastructure, sanitary and environmental conditions.
