M&CC gets $30M from Govt, $100M more for City Hall restoration

…financial statements still to be audited – Minister

Central Government has given City Hall another lifeline by injected an additional $30 million into the coffers of the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown.
This money is intended to support the construction of an administrative building for that entity.

Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall has already handed over the cheque to Chairman of the Finance Committee, Oscar Clarke. The building will house employees of the Council so that the City Hall building can be restored.
Speaking with the media, Dharamlall noted that Government is looking closely at the proceedings in order to ensure there is accountability for the money as it is expended from the Council’s end.
“In 2019, an initial sum was provided to City Hall of $65 million. That work has gone to the extent where a superstructure has been completed. This is part of Government’s commitment to support the construction of the admin building…City Hall has committed to put an additional $50 million during the course of this year. We expect that the resources are going to be used very wisely.
“We’re hopeful that, by now, the City would have already publicly tendered for this work,” he expressed.
It has been announced that another $100 million is promised from the state’s coffers for the restoration of the City Hall building – a historical structure in the heart of Georgetown.
“That is one of the legacy buildings in Georgetown. It is a historic landmark in our country, and it is on the front burner of our Government. The President has been adamant for us to get the City Hall Building restored, and so he has agreed to put $100 million for it as well.”

Lagging
The Minister added that the Council is still lagging behind in having its financial statements audited, and this is a serious concern for the current administration. He reported that in the Auditor General’s Report, it is indicated that the local organ body has not been forthcoming with these documents.
“The fact is that they have not yet been able to get their financial statements audited. I hope that the head of the Finance Committee is taking note of it. We’re very, very serious about these issues as a Government. There have been some complaints from the Auditor General’s statements that I have read, where City Hall has not been forthcoming in presenting a lot of the verification information towards the conduct of an audit,” the Minister detailed.
However, Clarke, as Chairman of the Finance Committee, indicated that the Council is trying to catch up on this backlog.
Clarke claimed, “We’re catching up on that now, and I’m sure (that) by the end of this year we’ll be up to last year. We have been submitting our statements now, and I think we’re catching up on our backlog of audits.”
After taking office, the PPP/C Government had launched an audit targeting both the financial and operational makeup of the municipality.
Calls for transparency come on the heels of reports last year that there was no accountability for the $300 million Restoration Fund which was contributed to the Georgetown Mayor and City Council for the restoration of the dilapidated City Hall Building. The structure seems to be falling apart, and some sections have already been labelled unsafe.