The Camp Street building in which the operations of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) are currently housed is not fit for occupation, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan said yesterday, while announcing that government is looking to relocate the office until the structure can be deemed safe.
Jordan at the time was making his contributions to a debate on the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill in the National Assembly.
The minister’s pronouncement comes days after the chairman of GRA Board Rawle Lucas told Stabroek News that the five-storey building was deemed as “sufficiently safe” for continued occupation by experts out of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.
Jordan told the National Assembly that the building was found to be “structurally, I don’t want to use the word unsafe because it may frighten people, but let us say it is structurally not in keeping with the activity for the people in there.” He added that things were made worse by a recent earth tremor.
The tremor occurred in July, following which the building had to be evacuated. There were reports of it swaying and subsequently cracks were observed.
“So it is not a pretty sight when it rains even a little bit, to see umbrellas being opened in GRA…by people sheltering from rain,” he said amidst comments of shock from his fellow government MPs. He said that as a result of even a “little rain,” there is flooding and this has resulted in documents being destroyed and lost.
“So we have to move immediately to see how we can improve the safety of the workers while they are there and as a medium-term measure look at the prospects of removing the GRA from there until that building can be made structurally and otherwise safe for human habitation,” he said.
GRA is renting the building from the ailing Nation Insurance Scheme (NIS) for $5M a month. Jordan told the National Assembly yesterday that even with this money NIS has been unable to pull itself out of its financial crisis, which has led to the inability to pay out even the minimal of benefits to contributors.
In October, GRA began its move into the building but not before a consultancy firm was hired at a cost of $4.5 million to prepare the building for occupancy. Government would later award a contract for $227.1 million to complete and modify the building so that it could be occupied by the GRA.
Lucas, during an interview with Stabroek News last weekend, had revealed that the condition of the headquarters is a cause of concern. He said that the experts, while concluding that it was “sufficiently safe,” have pointed out that long term solution is needed. Lucas, while noting that the comfort and safety of the workers are top priority, said that the long term solutions may culminate in GRA having a campus of its own. He too had spoken on flooding and leaks whenever it rains.
Prior to occupying the Camp Street building, the various GRA departments were spilt up and located in various parts of the city. The move to the Camp Street building was intended to enable one central location for all its operations.
