Govt mulls new building for GRA

…more investments in pipeline for Govt buildings to improve efficiency

Government is mulling a new building for the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) as its current headquarter operations have outgrown the current Camp Street, Georgetown location, but it is a project which will not be undertaken this year.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo made this disclosure on Thursday in response to questions about a new GRA building. Given the current trajectory of the country and new standards being developed, he admitted that a new building would eventually be needed.
The VP stated, “We will have to eventually get a new building for GRA. They were at Lamaha Street and different places, then we got to Camp Street. At that time, Camp Street was a powerful new building. Eventually, they would have to get a new building, but I don’t think it’s going to happen this year.”
One of the current bugbears has been the lack of parking in Central Georgetown for persons conducting transactions at GRA.
Citing potential locations for the new building, Jagdeo added, “Most likely, the building would be either along the corridor going from Georgetown to Eccles or on the new highway from Ogle to the Bridge. The Government has land there so once they decide on the project, it will go on one of these places.”
Employees had reportedly complained of mould in the building, to which the Vice President also responded that GRA Commissioner General Godfrey Statia was responsible for ensuring that staffers were comfortable.
“He’s the Head of GRA [to ensure] that the workers are as comfortable as possible,” he said.
GRA presently operates at eight established Integrated Regional Tax Offices (IRTOs), most of which offer the services available at its Georgetown headquarters. Establishing regional offices, it had said, is a groundbreaking initiative, since taxpayers no longer needed to travel to Georgetown to access GRA’s services.
In 2022, GRA kickstarted construction of a new IRTO at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice (WCB), which expanded its reach to taxpayers in Region Five, offering a full-service tax office.
The Authority opened the doors of its Mabaruma Tax Office in 2019, and it was expected that construction would commence on its Mahdia Regional Office last year.
New headquarters are being built for the Housing Ministry and the Guyana Police Force. In the near future, the Public Works Ministry’s operations will also be decentralised. Jagdeo said focus would be placed on upgrading Government buildings to add to their efficiency.
“We’re going to spend more money on Government buildings, but to make our workers more comfortable, modernise the services available…but not for like Office of the President. We had proposals to building, but the President is still using State House. It’s not for prestige activities. It is for better functioning of the Government,” he explained. (G12)