Georgetown... and the efforts at enhancement

Written by Gina Webmaster, Published in News, A GINA, Feature, March 14, 2015, Source - GINA

A city drain being cleaned

Indeed, since its commencement, this initiative has done much to transform a city that had become a national embarrassment, as over time it has been criminally neglected, almost buried beneath its own garbage pile.

A clogged city canal being cleaned under a Public Works Ministry's initiative in 2013

Today, instead, for all intent and purposes, this intervention, has commenced the ‘long sought for’ return of the city, to its former glory.

Government has been trying, to bring about the kinds of change that were needed to restore the city’s appearance, and has done so, mindful of the fact that there is a statutory body (the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown), that has a legislative obligation to deliver these sanitation and environmental services, including things such as de-silting of drains, fixing roads, and collecting and transporting garbage.

But as all are aware, more so, after the public revelations, over the past three years, the City Council has been limited in terms of resources, to execute these services, because of the fact that there are many who still owe millions of dollars in taxes.

The point is that government did not shelter behind the excuses that the City Council provided for not carrying out its mandate. Government, over the years (moreso over the past ten years), has been ploughing its own resources, into trying to improve the sanitation and environmental conditions of the city.  Government’s effort has not only been about pouring resources on the issue, but has also seen a focus on getting residents to recognise that they are contributors to the solid waste situation that confronts the city, and therefore must also be contributors to solving the problem.

Garbage truck given to the M&CC by Local Government Ministry

Bold initiatives

Over the years, several ministries have assiduously sought to work by themselves and with partners towards addressing the issue. The Ministry of Public Works, for instance, has been doing a lot of work, using government resources.

Periodically, this ministry has supported the council, by the loaning of equipment for garbage collection, as were the cases, in recent times, when strike actions, by garbage companies, became common place for the council. Those times, when the council, unable to meet its financial obligations to the city’s garbage collectors, resulted in the companies withholding their services, government not only settled many of these outstanding payments, but  also during the strike, the Public Works Ministry loaned the council trucks, to collect and dispose of the city’s refuse.

The Public Works Ministry also had supervision over several periodic clean-up exercises for the city, including the $120M ‘City Enhancement’ project, which provided for the monies to be disbursed to the council, over a 12- month period, for work programmes, aimed at restoring the capital city.  After initial success, this intervention was discontinued following the council’s failure to produce work programmes for further accessing of the money.

The Public Works Ministry, as well was given direct control over several periodic interventions, directed towards addressing the clean-up of the city’s cemetery, the last being a $15M intervention, executed about five years ago.

The Ministry of Agriculture, through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has also contributed much to the effort; as it has, through its programmes, been directly targeting the cleaning of the City’s waterway.

Le Repentir cemetery which benefitted from the clean-up exercise

Then there were the most recent efforts by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment that instead focus on behavioural change.

The whole thrust of the ministry’s “Pick it Up Guyana” campaign was sensitisation and awareness. The intention was for Guyanese to pick up by themselves, their garbage.  And indeed, this campaign was successful in making solid waste a topic of conversation in Guyana, as the country was made very of aware of the issue, to the extent that some of the country’s partners and friends, from aboard came on board.

Further, recognising the weakness in the litter prevention regulation, the Natural Resources Ministry in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), implemented a   new litter prevention regulation, patterned from those currently existing in several jurisdictions in CARICOM. Subsequent to all of these interventions, the ministry appointed litter wardens to enforce the provisions of the regulation.

Plaster

Notwithstanding what government was doing, including supporting community groups, not only in terms of awareness, but also with resources and working within the school system to bring about behavioural change through children, things improved marginally.  However, because of  an increase in the volume of illegal vending and with that an increase in solid  waste, the neglect of the market and an  increase of illegal dumpsites around the city,  try as government may,  all it was doing was merely putting plaster on the wounds.

It was determined that a greater effort was needed to engender enhancement of the capital city.

Georgetown’s clean-up

So, government put significant resources in the 2014 budget, to clean the city and enlisted the support of support of citizens, businesses, and institutions, in mapping out a comprehensive plan that tackled the issue of the waste, and clogged drains and canals across the city. The main canals, leading to the sea and river, and that provide a number of communities with drainage, were weeded and de-silted.

Under this exercise, special attention was also placed on the city’s burial ground, with a focus on cleaning and de-silting all surrounding drains and canals. There were also the rebuilding and resurfacing of the internal roads, and the removal of the vegetation that had taken root among the graves and other sections, and the bees which had created hives.

Every community within the 10 wards of the city also benefitted from some aspects of cleaning, be it de-silting of the road-side drains, or alleyways, cleaning of the parapets or removal of garbage within the community.

Sustenance

The government’s “Clean-Up My Country” initiative is one in which the most money was ever expended, at any one time, on the aesthetics of the country, and more so on the City; a whopping $500M catered for the intervention on the city. To this end, government, from the start, determined that the intervention must therefore be sustained over time. So importantly, the initiative as well covered putting the council in a position, where they can take over and play the important role they should have been be playing, in maintaining the city and its environment, in a healthy respectable way.

In this regard, the City Council is being assisted with repairs to several of its machinery.

Meanwhile with another $500M that was allocated for the region’s clean-up, Neighbourhood Democratic Councils have been receiving bins, and tractor and trailers, to ensure the maintenance of public spaces.

Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Norman Whittaker and Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud at a forum to discuss sustaining the City's clean-up

Looking ahead

Government’s goal is to get the country, moreso Georgetown, back to the times when the people took pride in the way their community looked, and this is what government will continue to work towards. Future effort such as the passing of the Solid Waste Bill, in the National Assembly, is critical to creating a single entity in the country and that will be overlooking this particular area.

Currently, as well, government, through the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development is looking at proposals to have a recycling facility, as it has recognised that if people can put a value to waste, then it is likely to help its effort.