A Partnership for National Unity calls on the People‟s Progressive Party Civic administration to desist from damaging the Georgetown Mayor and City Council and to support the rehabilitation of the national capital.
A Partnership for National Unity calls on the People‟s Progressive Party Civic administration to desist from damaging the Georgetown Mayor and City Council and to support the rehabilitation of the national capital.
The City of Georgetown is in crisis. It is a well-known fact that Georgetown‟s commercial, demo-graphic and geographical expansion over the past four decades has been the major contributory factor to the present situation. The M&CC must be empowered and equipped if it is to be enabled to respond to the challenge of managing a modern capital city. The current crisis in the municipali-ty is a consequence of several other crises which include the following:
The political crisis. The antagonistic attitude of the PPPC administration to the M&CC which it perceives to be controlled by APNU supporters is the most serious issue. This mindset has led to the PPPC‟s refusal to deal specifically with the problems at hand since it sees every crisis as an opportunity for political confrontation rather than municipal im-provement. The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development –MLGRD – mi-cro-manages the M&CC on a daily basis. The MLGRD‟s contentious imposition of an unpop-ular Town Clerk has aggravated the problem.
The financial management crisis. It is a well-known fact that the M&CC‟s revenue base is inadequate to sustain the management of the city. The main property owner in Georgetown is the central government but it has been among the most delinquent in the payment of its rates and taxes. The M&CC has had to resort to taking legal action to collect outstanding taxes from several taxpayers but the wheels of justice turn very slowly in present-day Georgetown.
The solid waste management crisis. The garbage crisis did not develop overnight. It is public knowledge that the M&CC spends about $1 million dollars a day to collect garbage from all areas of the city. This crisis is the consequence of procrastination by the PPPC and the MLGRD over the development of new landfills and the exploration of new technologies such as waste recycling.
The flood management crisis. The city is built on a collection of old sugar plantations. It contains hundreds of kilometres of canals and drains designed to store excess water, re-move it from the land and discharge it into the Demerara river and Atlantic Ocean. That does not happen efficiently. Most waterways are clogged with aquatic weeds, builders‟ waste, commercial and household refuse, garbage and other debris.
The infrastructure maintenance crisis. The M&CC does not have the capability nor does it possess the equipment, materials and resources to maintain the buildings, canals, gar-dens, kokers, markets, roadways and other infrastructure and property for which it is re-sponsible.
APNU regards the state of the national capital as a national responsibility. Georgetown‟s problems, however, have arisen largely as a result of the PPPC‟s hostile attitude to the M&CC since the mu-nicipal elections of 1994.
APNU calls on the PPPC to re-engage the M&CC in a responsible manner. The PPPC must demon-strate leadership in rehabilitating the infrastructure and restoring public pride in our capital City.
