Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine and city Councillors at Monday’s statutory meeting
The operations of the City Engineers Department came under scrutiny during Monday’s statutory meeting after Georgetown Mayor, Ubraj Narine voiced concerns about the slow pace of work and the absence of key staffers in the field.
Mayor Narine expressed disappointment at the lack of work completed in recent times, accusing the City Engineer Department of “sleeping”.
These problems arose primarily with the building inspectors and their absence to assess structures within the confines of the city. The Mayor further mentioned that a majority of the issues brought to his attention relate to the City Engineer Department and instructed the Head of the Department to provide details on the last encounter with persons under his supervision.
“I’m mentioning it again that the City Engineer need not to be there sitting in the office but being in the fields sometimes and having meetings with building inspectors. We must get clearly what is happening…I find out from persons who are building and nobody ever said that a building inspector has visited them,” he added.
He reminded employees of the Council that they were hired to do a job and stated the possibility of additional correspondents this week regarding the City Engineer Department.
“I might receive three correspondents this week about the same issue. We need these building inspectors to be out there. They have a duty…You’re being employed by the Council to do a job and it must be in that manner.” This comment from the Mayor came after Councillor Hetson Botswick stated that the City Engineer has been relying on the Council to make decisions when the bylaws already dictate the course of action to be taken. He noted that this puts an additional burden on the Council, to which Narine completely agreed.
During City Hall’s Commission of Inquiry in 2018, the City Engineer was subpoenaed to answer to city works which were ongoing for several months.
In respect to the Kitty Market, the Commission heard that substandard materials were sourced to conduct the works which was part of the $250 million restoration exercise. Councillor Bishram Kupen submitted his statement, verifying that poor quality of wood was purchased for these works.
It has been three years since US$41,000 was donated to City Hall by the US Embassy for works on the Stabroek Market Clock but the restoration process was never started.
