Outgoing G/T Mayor to facilitate smooth transition for new Town Council

– as $13B still owed to City Council and a $6B debt to clear

As his tenure fast approaches, Mayor of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (GM&CC), Pandit Ubraj Narine will be leaving behind the burden of a $6 billion debt and $13 billion outstanding dues owed to the municipality.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Narine explained that City Council is prepared to receive a new head following the hosting of the Local Government Elections (LGE) on Monday and as such, he will facilitate a smooth transition.
“Everything is prepared for the new Mayor to take over the city of Georgetown. Everything is already set so that transition can take place very smoothly,” Narine said.
“The transition of the Mayor’s office will include policies the Mayor and the City Council had passed over the five years and other documentation which I will hand over to the next Mayor,” he added.
Narine also extended gratitude towards the residents of Georgetown, executives of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition voters, vendors, and businesses who supported him during his tenure, though he noted that this does not mark the end of his political career.
However, the new Town Council will face the uphill task of managing the heavily indebted capital city.
“When I took office, [about] $500 million was owed to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) since 1992. It is [about] $300 million now. When I took office, the credit union was over $100 million. The staff can benefit from the credit union now,” he said.
“When I took office, the garbage contract was $35 million a month. I negotiated that contract and brought it down to $15 million, then we bid and it was $13 million a month. This Council had worked for the interests of both Administration and the citizens of the city,” Narine added.
In addition, the outgoing Mayor disclosed that the City Council is in turn owed about $13 billion by a number of parties including Guyana Power and Light (GPL), Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), and the Government.
“The City Council owes GPL $3 billion but GPL owes the City Council $10 billion. I had a meeting with GPL three times and nothing [came] out of it. They’re supposed to pay us $25 for a pole on the reserve. We [got] zero…GRA used the entire Lamaha/Railway Embankment for parking and [putting up] buildings. They paid the Council zero,” he said.
“If we get our monies in, the Council will be able to function [and] do much more in the city,” Narine noted.
Narine also stated that the Government has neglected its responsibility to pay taxes, thereby stifling the City Council’s ability to best serve its residents.
“The revenue generated from taxes is crucial in supporting essential public services such as infrastructure development, education, healthcare, and public safety. The non-payment of taxes by the Government of Guyana directly hampers or stifles the city’s ability to provide these fundamental services to its residents.”
Narine noted that while city officials have made efforts to engage in dialogue with the Government on these matters and assurances were given, no concrete steps have been taken to rectify the situation.
“The consequences of Government failure to pay taxes are far-reaching. It plays an undue burden to the City Council, forcing it to restore the budget cuts and put different measures in place to serve the life for its residents in the city,” he said.

Audits
Meanwhile, the outgoing Mayor also reiterated that repeated efforts were made to contact the Auditor General to conduct an audit of the accounts of the municipality. These efforts, he said, were ignored.