‘We must work together’: Dr Komal Singh urges collaboration to revive Georgetown

As the government proceeds with its agenda to restore Georgetown to its former glory, former head of the Private Sector Commission, Dr Komal Singh, issued a call for unity and action, urging City Council to embrace the interventions and help rescue the capital city.

Speaking on the most recent episode of the ‘Spotlight’ show, Dr Singh emphasised that only through genuine collaboration between the Mayor, City Council and central government can Georgetown once again become the ‘Garden City of the Caribbean’.

“The City Council should be very happy that the government is participating in helping to develop the city. And I would encourage the city council to work with the government on this initiative. At the end of the day, it is for all of our benefit, including the city council”, Dr Singh said.

He also highlighted the enormous potential of the city for tourism and the importance of preserving our historical heritage sites.

“If you drive around Georgetown on a Sunday afternoon, there’s no traffic, and you will recognise the enormous amount of potential that exists in the city from a tourist standpoint. We need to fix that, and we need to fix it now. It’s long overdue”, Dr Singh said.

Dr Singh, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of GAICO, commended the President’s cleaning and restoration initiatives over the past few years that revitalised particular neighbourhoods in a short period of time.

Although these initiatives saw the deployment of a certain amount of equipment in the city and had proper coordination with the solid waste department, the real issue lies in enforcement from the City Council.

“The issue here right now is the enforcement, all right? If the city is allowing people to dump garbage with no consequences, then people will continue to dump the garbage. There needs to be consequences for your actions if we’re going to uphold and try to keep the city clean,” he said.

Looking ahead, Singh noted that although the city will see major transformations, it is important that we encourage the maintenance of these sites, and that this can only be achieved through collaborative efforts.

“It’s important that everybody gets on board. This is not a government initiative alone. The government can do it; the president creates an environment, but it’s up to all of us collectively as stakeholders; we need to participate to make this a reality,” Dr Singh noted.