Patricia Chase Green
Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase Green has decried the low fees that residents and business owners pay for property taxes in the capital city as the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) grapples with the environmental impacts from issues surrounding solid waste management.
Chase Green reiterated the Georgetown M&CC’s position on the current rates at the Regency Hotel on Monday as she addressed a gathering at the Georgetown consultation on the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS) for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).
“We have no (property) valuations in many years, so persons are paying G$1200 per year for their rates and taxes for their disposal of garbage, cleaning of drains, streetlights and sustainable roads, but G$1200 a year cannot work,” the Mayor noted on Monday.
Observing the need for a green and clean city, she called on environmental stakeholders to forge closer collaboration on combating the issues of solid waste and flooding, which she observed posed the greatest challenge to Georgetown. Chase Green added that the two issues were compounded by squatting where many canals cannot be cleared and persons determined to live in the city were encroaching on Government reserves. The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) has attempted to remove squatters in various sections of the city, but has faced much resistance and protests.
Green economy
Head of the Ministry of the Presidency’s Department of the Environment, Ndibi Schweirs reminded the consultation of the aim of the GSDS which seeks to provide the foundation for an inclusive green economy. At the same time, she noted too that the GSDS’s goals include the diversification of Guyana’s economy, safeguarding the environment and the improvement of human well-being and equity.
“We should position ourselves to be part of development paradigms,” she noted.
Meanwhile, UN Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative to Guyana, Mikiko Tanaka told the gathering that Georgetown must be prepared to handle the possible risks from more extreme weather patterns, such as intense warming.
Before the consultation ended, Communities Ministry representative, Dr Simpson Da Silva pinpointed that the Ministry was fully committed to Government’s green agenda, and he stressed that it would work with the villages and communities to advance the strategy.
Dr Da Silva underscored that he has been working with various Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) leaders to ensure that a part of the constituencies’ 2019 budgets have provisions for a green state development concept. He indicated that the plan was to “green up the spirits and bodies” of villagers and leaders to get them fully on board with the strategy.
