The operations of the Region 10 Regional Democratic Council (RDC) are expected to be disrupted over the next few days, after extensive damage to key offices during a fire on Sunday.
However, Regional Executive Officer Henry Rodney yesterday said a local contractor will begin emergency renovation today to ensure the region’s operations are back in full swing.
“I am optimistic that by the end of this week seventy to eighty percent of the region’s work must be restored, and so the activity of providing service to the community would be ongoing,” Rodney told Stabroek News.
The fire, which gutted a two-storey building occupied by Digicel’s flagship store at Linden and a Chinese garment store, damaged the RDC building, and in particular the Works, Personnel and Registry offices.
While proprietors of the garment store could not be reached for comment yesterday, in excess of $1.5 in cash were recovered from among the burnt remains of the section where the business was housed. It was observed that a quantity of the cash, packed in piles of $100,000, was scorched. At the time, the area was cordoned off by police, who carried out the recovery operation with the Chinese owners. Curious onlookers were kept at bay by police officers and the owners’ security dogs.
Rodney said that it was not until after the RDC’s building caught afire a second time that a decision was taken to evacuate several key and critical documents and assets. This required forced entry to several departments, including the accounts and sub-treasury departments at the bottom flat. According to Rodney, most of the key financial documents were stored in secured canter trucks, which are owned by the RDC. “After that we started moving computers and personnel files out of Personnel department, and contract and payment vouchers out of the Public Works department,” he said.
It was reported that a number of processed documents, which were left on desks and in drawers, were damaged by water from firefighting efforts, but these are expected to be easily replaced since the main files and documents have been saved. “I am very sure that we can reconstruct any document that was damaged in a timely manner,” Rodney said.
He explained that the RDC’s primary focus now is to have the documents and equipment stored in a safe and proper manner to minimise the risk of delay in accessing them. Ministry of Finance officers have been called in to make emergency interventions to restore the Integrated Financial Management Accounting System, which was damaged.
Yesterday, while the RDC office remained closed to the public, the Stores, Accounts and Personnel departments were put back into operation. The Works department is likely to be back in operation by the end of the week.
The extent of the damage to sensitive equipment is still unknown.
Rodney also said that electricity was not yet restored to building because key sections of the electrical circuit were fried by the fire. However, the administration successfully isolated sections of the building and had power restored to the bottom flat by way of its back-up generator.
According to Rodney, every possible effort was taken to ensure that there was maximum security at the building after the fire. Rodney said that he was overwhelmed by the support given by the staff, who came out in their numbers. “Most of our internal security personnel, who are ex-policemen, slept in the building last night to minimise the risk of vandalism,” he said.
The safety department of BOSAI came in for praise from the regional officers, who credited its timely efforts for saving the RDC’s building.
They said that while the efforts of the Linden Fire Service have not gone unnoticed, had it not been for the interventions of the BOSAI fire fighters, the RDC building would have been completely gutted. “It was BOSAI that saved the day,” Rodney said.
Meanwhile, Digicel has put in place a mobile unit, opposite its former location. According to Director Gregory Deane and Head of Marketing Jacqueline James, residents can access all the services previously offered at the store. Efforts are being made to secure another prime location to house the business. “Linden is one of our key business centres and we want to have a flagship store up and functional in the area as soon as possible, so we are making every effort to have this in place as soon as possible,” Deane said.
He added that he was not in a position to comment on the extent of the losses, but he was sure that Cell Smart, the agent that manages the operation, was working with its insurance company to ascertain this.
Yesterday, several small business owners, who operated stalls at the front of the gutted building, were busy cleaning in order to restart their operations. Several persons were also seen going through the ravaged remains of the garment store, after the owners left the scene.
