Bids for City Hall’s rehabilitation will open this week- Dharamlall

Weeks after the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) has declared the City Hall building as a public hazard, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Nigel Dharamlall has disclosed that bids will soon be open for rehabilitation works.

“Next week (this week) we will be tendering the restoration project of the City Hall building so the Government will also be leading that process,” Dharamlall said at a recent press conference after meeting with City Mayor Ubraj Narine.

He noted that it was communicated to Mr. Narine to begin moving staff out of the building, to which the Town Clerk Sherry Jerrick responded that the process has commenced.

The building was previously condemned in 2016 but the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) continues to occupy the second floor.

The Fire Service again condemned the building in early June during a routine inspection along the city’s busiest street, Regent Street, where the M&CC is located.

The European Union had committed $100M to assist with renovation works. In 2018, the EU, following an assessment of the condition of City Hall, has estimated that rehabilitation works would cost almost GYD$1 billion.

The Government is also part-funding the rehabilitation of the Council’s administrative building which is currently open to bids.

Completed in June 1889, the Georgetown building is described as one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in Guyana and the Caribbean.