Over $200M needed to restore City Hall

…plans in place for entire rehab – Mayor

BY RAMONA LUTHI

Future plans to rehabilitate City Hall may be as costly; in excess of $200 million according to Mayor, Patricia Chase Green in an interview on Wednesday.

According to the Mayor, there are plans to be implemented with respect to the entire rehabilitation of the building. Chase Green said though support was offered from the European Union, it was announced in a meeting prior to this interview that the tenders which the Mayor and City Council would have sent to them proved to be inadequate, and so a retendering was required.

“We were offered some assistance from the European Union and they would have said to us in a recent meeting that the tenders that were sent in did not meet the requirements for the European Union and so they have to do a retendering,” she asserted.

The Mayor highlighted that there were discussions with the World Monument Funding Agency, Guyana Heritage Society and the National Trust, which also gave assurances of their support after a review of the building, indicating that repairs should be conducted in the near future. She pointed out that presently, the wait is on for a thorough report from the organisations along with recommendations on each phase of the restoration process, after which the rehabilitation works will commence.

“I would have also received a visit from the World Monument Funding Agency, the Heritage Society and the National Trust. They have also pledged some support. They visited the building and they said to us that the structure needs some repairs and we should do it as early as possible so I’m awaiting the report from the World Monument Fund, and the Heritage Society, National Trust to be forwarded to me and they would also recommend the phases in which the restorations would be made” said the Mayor.

Though she pointed out that there was no fixed estimate for the overall cost of the restoration of the City Hall, Mayor Chase Green said it was an approximation of over $200 million, since it was a matter of good quality and adequate quantity.

“It will be in excess of, I would want to say, two to three hundred million dollars because if you’re talking about restoration and not simply repair, you have to look at the cast iron work they would have to do for it. To have it replaced, and that would cost money. You have to look at the boards that you’re going to replace, the designs of the board and the quality of the boards you buying. So that will have a cost,” the Mayor stated.