The debris from a 2014 fire that gutted the former Ministry of Public Health Annex at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, has finally been cleared from the land.
This newspaper observed workers and machinery at the site, located next to Ocean View International Hotel, removing the concrete posts and other supporting structures that were left standing.
The land is presently cleared and secured by a perimeter fence.
Sunday Stabroek has not been able to ascertain plans for the location. Multiple efforts to contact the Ministry of Public Health’s Public Relations Officer, Terrence Esseboom, to enquire if the ministry has commissioned works proved futile.
The ocean view property had housed the offices of the Veterinary Public Health Department, the Food Policy Department, the Environmental Health Department and the Health Science Education Department of the ministry. These had originally come under the entity known as the Guyana Agency for Health Sciences Education, Environment and Food Policy which had been headed for many years by the late Dr Walter Chin.
Prior to that it was formerly the site of the famous Carib Hotel.
The early morning fire of March 2014 reduced the building to rubble. The cause of the fire was never made public.
The building was constructed decades ago right next to the seawall and was originally the location of the Carib Hotel run by the Yassins. It was a popular entertainment spot in the 1960s and 70s.
