The cleanup after Carifesta will be done smoothly since workers who were on a go slow since last Friday received their wages yesterday, Mayor Hamilton Green said.
Speaking to Stabroek News via telephone yesterday Green said the debris along Aubrey Barker road and other areas had not been picked up since workers did not work at a solid pace owing to no reassurance that they would have been paid on time.
Green said the city could not afford to pay workers to remove the refuse from the areas but that a cheque was received from the government yesterday and the workers should be paid.
The mayor related that this was a recurring scenario and it would happen again because the city just did not have enough money to keep things running. He said that the main reason for this was because the municipality was not being allowed to widen its revenue base.
While the cost of materials and labour were increasing at a rapid pace, rates and taxes remained fixed. He said a revaluation of properties in the city had to be done to determine all those that operate as commercial but paid residential taxes. An evaluation officer has been brought on stream to carry out such an investigation, Green said.
However, the mayor reiterated that “the bottom line is that this sort of thing will always happen if the revenue base is not broadened”.
Director of the Solid Waste Department Hubert Urling told Stabroek News yesterday that the workers were paid and work would resume as usual. However, he said there was no major work to be done as a result of Carifesta as venues were being cleaned religiously after each show. Arrangement was made with the Carifesta Secretariat for them to have workers clean venues after each Carifesta activity.
Meanwhile Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn said City Hall was responsible for the clean up in general but Public Works has “tried to fill in the breach.” The ministry is cleaning along the declared public roads and at the moment, work is ongoing at the canal at upper Lamaha Street and other areas.
