Construction of City Hall Admin Building: Finance committee assessing way forward – City Engineer

The construction of the City Hall Administrative Building continues to be stalled as the finance committee for the project is now looking at other means to move forward with its completion.
This was revealed by the City Engineer Colvern Venture during a telephone interview with this publication on Monday.
According to Venture, “The finance committee met last week, and we’re in discussion to restart the construction of that building.”
Venture added that the contractor’s contract has expired and at this point, he cannot say whether the Council will continue with the same contractor or select a new one.
“We don’t have a contractor right now, the contractor time has expired so the finance committee is looking at the matter right now so I wouldn’t be able to say if we would continue the works with that contractor or go back to re-tender,” Venture told this publication.
During a previous interview with this publication, the Mayor of Georgetown, Alfred Mentore revealed that construction was stalled because of issues with the contractor, who kept requesting multiple extensions.
According to Mentore, construction has been stalled for over a year. He added that the contractor did a lot of “general work” but never actually completed a specific phase. As such, he said the Council was seeking legal advice on how to end the relationship with the company and hire another firm.
“He did a lot of general work…externally and internally so in doing that we weren’t able to actually complete a phase. We would have been moving to complete the downstairs, which would have been the Treasurer Department and then we have the other departments on the other floor. But we didn’t get the chance to complete any of the phases. Most of the work he did was general,” Mentore explained.
“Most of the work that has to be done is the…finishing work, framing up things, and putting ceiling. We have to settle it now, as it relates to finishing work…that in itself takes time but it also takes money,” the Deputy Mayor added.
Back in March, Former Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall had stated that his Ministry will be offering technical assistance to the Council for the completion of the project in a timely manner. Noting that it is outrageous that after two years, the Georgetown Mayor and City Councill (M&CC) is unable to wrap up the construction of its Administrative Building.
According to previous reports, the building was being constructed in phases. In 2019, the Central Government gave $75 million to the M&CC for the first phase of construction works.
The second phase of construction would have commenced in December 2021, after the Government handed over a $30 million subvention to City Hall to complete the building.
The new building, when completed, is expected to have an elevator, a room for the holding of statutory meetings, and all the vital administrative departments.
The construction of the administrative building became a top priority for the municipality, given the dilapidated state of the existing structure, which is unsafe for staff.