Georgetown : The of Local Government and Regional Development has been tasked with a $1 billion national clean-up programme after Cabinet’s approved in principle, for the ministry’s expenditure of the allocated funds. This was revealed by Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon during his weekly media briefing,
According to plans, $500 million has been dedicated to Georgetown and the remainder for the rest of the country. According to Dr. Luncheon, the Georgetown phase will address the cleaning of the environment, restoration of its drainage capacity and infrastructure work dedicated to structures such as sluices and kokers. The coastal administrative regions will be the beneficiaries of the remaining $500 million, with specific focus on enhancing drainage capacity, described by the Cabinet Secretary as particularly challenging and solid waste disposal, issues which have generated “widespread concerns” among coastal residents.
“The Minister of Local Government addressed those concerns by pointing out, one, the creation of staffing of a specialised unit in the ministry that would deal exclusively with programming and implementing the activities in Georgetown, $500 million and for the rest on the coastal regions, the other $500 million”.
Dr. Luncheon explained that it was also recognised by the minister that the imminent enactment of new solid waste legislation for the entire country, had the potential of sustaining the solid waste component of the $1 billion provided via the National Budget 2014. The issue of spending the huge sum of money within six months, and providing credible results, is one that is recognised, and Dr. Luncheon said that whilst the subject minister is assured of Cabinet’s support, it is going to be a bit of a challenge.
“The taxpayers, the residents of Georgetown and these coastal administrative regions will all be interested when the six months would have elapsed, what kind of report our honourable minister would be providing”.
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