General Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, has revealed that the administration has intentions to rehabilitate Durban Park – the controversial project that was undertaken by the previous APNU/AFC administration.
The Durban Park project, construction of which had cost more than $1B, was shrouded in significant controversy. One controversy was the fact that a government minister, then Education Minister Dr Rupert Roopnarine, was one of the Directors of the special purpose company Homestretch Development Incorporated (HDI) – an entity that collected money from secret donors to finance the construction of the park.
The current state of Durban Park
Another controversy is the fact that, for years, the Audit Office of Guyana has been unable to audit the project properly, owing to missing documents.
A special audit by the Audit Office was conducted into the Durban Park Project since 2018, finding that $1.1 billion was spent on the project. Even then, payment vouchers to account for how millions were spent were not provided to the auditors.
There is also the matter of the $500 million paid by the former APNU/AFC Government to the special purpose company. This money was supposed to allow the company to clear its debts. According to the Audit Office, however, there was a stark lack of transparency in how this money was used.
Today, Durban Park is an almost dilapidated structure with aging wooden beams supporting wooden stands. As a matter of fact, the facility has for years been used by vagrants as a nightly refuge.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo said, “I want to say to the people who made the suggestion that we clean it up and fix it up in the next term: yes, that’s going to be done.”
