City Hall gets $30 million to advance construction of admin. building

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Hon. Nigel Dharamlall today handed over a 30-million-dollar cheque to the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to advance the construction of City Hall’s administrative building.

The cheque was handed over to Chairman of the Council’s Finance Committee, Mr. Oscar Clarke in the presence of Minister within the Ministry, Hon. Anand Persaud at the Ministry’s Boardroom in Kingston, Georgetown.

During brief remarks, Minister Dharamlall said the initiative is a fulfillment of a promise made by President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali when he met with Mayor of Georgetown His Worship Ubraj Narine and Deputy Mayor Mr. Alfred Mentore, to support the restoration of the dilapidated City Hall building.

“The Government will support $30 million towards the construction of the admin building and City Hall has agreed 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 are hopeful that by now the city would have already publicly tender for this work,” Minister Dharamlall said.

In 2019, the Ministry provided an initial sum of $65 million to commence the construction of the administrative building located in the compound of the City Hall.

As part of the PPP/C Government’s support to the M&CC, an additional $100 million will go towards the restoration of the historic City Hall building.  Minister Dharamlall said the restoration project will commence soon.

“There are many staff who are currently at the City Hall building and we are hopeful that as soon as the admin building has gotten to a stage where those staff will be accommodated, that the restoration will begin,” he said.

Minister Persaud said the restoration project is still at the discussion stage with the relevant stakeholders. He said plans are in train to address parking and drainage in the capital. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Clarke said construction of the building started in 2019. With the additional funds, it is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

“This cheque is coming at a good time. The monies will take us a far way,” Clarke said, noting that the tendering progress for the works is ongoing. The City Hall building houses the offices of the Mayor of Georgetown, the City Council, the City Engineer and other personnel. City Hall was designed by architect Ignatius Scoles and the foundation stone was laid by Governor Henry Turner Irving on December 23, 1887. It was officially opened on July 1, 1889, by Governor Viscount Gormanston.