Georgetown upgrade, modernisation being planned – President Ali

Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 September 2024, 19:39 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday ann0unced plans for improving the rundown state of Georgetown, once regarded as the Garden City of the Caribbean, with assistance from the United Kingdom’s King Charles Foundation.

The Guyanese leader said the local government – Mayor and City Council – would be involved in that urban renewal project, but central government would be responsible for implementation.

“The cross cutting nature of this work means that it requires action from local government as well as the central government but its cross cutting nature means that it is appropriate that central government funds the work and leads its implementation,” he said.

In his address at the high-level discussion on “Restoring Ambition for International Climate and Development: Learning from Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy and its Global Model for Forest Finance”, Dr. Ali said several projects were in the pipeline to “enhance” Georgetown. “Let us imagine a Georgetown that lends its rich history to cutting edge infrastructure technology, a city that is both cosmopolitan and reflective of our values,” he said.

He said over the next few months, technical work would start on developing eight key elements for sustainable cities including a vision and Urban Development Framework for Greater Georgetown , a smart code for building designs, a continuation of the master plan on Silica City on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, two pilot neighborhood plans, a greenway strategy and modernised urban maps.

The President said the plans would include preserving the core of Georgetown’s history to ensure “history and modernity coexist” including its beautiful colonial architecture, and a green heritage conservation plan that would be led by the National Trust of Guyana. Plans, he said, would also entail the creation of spaces for physical exhibitions, a virtual museum platform to celebrate Guyana’s history and attract tourism as well as the development of the first cultural market in the Caribbean.

Norway’s f0rmer Minister of International Development, and Environment, Erik Solheim, in his presentation, recommended that Guyana follows in the footsteps of South Korea and India in the creation of bicycle lanes covered by solar panels. “I’m no expert in Georgetown but this very, very long character of Georgetown should make it very well fit for quite a few bike lanes which will basically carry everyone,” he said.

The parlous state of Georgetown is due largely to political bickering between the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the People’s National Congress Reform-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the latter which holds the majority in the City Council. The two sides have for decades traded accusations of accountability, failure to pay taxes and central government’s debt to the municipality.

Problems that continue to plague Georgetown include poor drainage, bad solid waste management, no public health inspection, and the presence of a large number of street dwellers who include drug addicts, the mentally ill and the homeless.