Georgetown M&CC Director of Solid Waste Management, Walter Narine
The Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has completed the preparatory work needed to ensure that the city is cleaned immediately after Guyana’s Republic Day (Mashramani) Costume and Float Parade concludes.
According to the Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry, Mashramani 2024 will be the country’s biggest extravaganza, and Guyanese can expect more vibrant and creative costume bands, a lively parade, and high-quality performances by local artistes.
Mashramani events have also been expanded to Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), and Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice) to ensure every citizen feels more connected to the annual festivities, and is engrossed in the jubilation.
In fact, the Calypso and Soca Monarch competitions were held on Friday and Saturday in Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and Linden, Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice), respectfully.
It is usually anticipated that, around this time, large amounts of waste products would flood the streets after these celebrations; hence, the Georgetown Mayor and City Council has planned a clean- up exercise to remove garbage from the Costume and Float Parade route. This will see a total of 100 skip bins being strategically placed along Middle, Main and Church Streets, Thomas Lands and the National Park one day before the parade. Further, some 60 sanitation workers from the municipality’s Solid Waste Management and Engineers departments would commence cleaning the city at 2am on Saturday, February 24.
Get the work done
In an interview with this publication, City Council’s Solid Waste Management Director, Walter Narine, disclosed that Council is hoping to complete the exercise by 10:00h, before the city is highly populated by patrons.
“They will use the bins, but they are going to leave stuff on the road. If you look at Trinidad, (which) had their Carnival for the last two-days, it is a mess after. It is nothing new, but just like Trinidad, in Guyana, the morning after, we get the work done,” Narine said.
Narine added that the skip bins provided by City Council would be emptied on a 24-hour basis and would be situated in highly populated communities across Georgetown.
“Church Street and all of that, those are basically a thoroughfare, so we don’t really want to put bins around that area…the Council will take those bins after clean-up, and they will place them strategically within the highly populated areas, like for example Regent Street, Robb Street, King Street, Wellington Street, and around the bus park, with the hope that the commuters use the bins that will stop littering,” the Solid Waste Director explained.
According to the Solid Waste Director, the municipality is satisfied with the approach being taking to restore the city after these major events. He noted that the exercise represents a vast improvement by the municipality, as compared to previous years, when garbage from the activity could still be seen along the sides of the roadways days after the activity had ended. (G1)
