Outgoing Mayor of Georgetown, Pandit Ubraj Narine said today that the incoming council for City Hall will have a herculean task ahead of it, especially since it is still owed over $13B in outstanding rates and taxes from businesses and the current administration.
According to Narine, while as Mayor, there were several challenges the council faced, including the non-cooperation of the central government to intervene in matters relating to tax and revenue collection. Instead, the Mayor claimed that the government stymied the progress of the council. Several government officials have since denounced this as false.
Be that as it may, Narine said, “When I took office, (approximately) $500M was owed to NIS since 1992. It is (about) $300M now. When I took office, the Credit Union was owed over $100M…the staff can benefit from the credit union now,” the Mayor said.
He continued, “When I took office, the garbage contract was $35 million a month; I negotiated that contract and brought it down to $15 million, and then we bid and it was $13 million a month. This council has worked for both administration and the citizens.”
In responding to mismanagement claims made by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and Local Government Minister Nigel Dharamlall, Narine said that the claims made by the administration were all to tarnish his reputation.
He said that despite its challenges, the council’s debt was significantly lowered to less than $5B.
Meanwhile, Narine said that he will remain eternally grateful for the support he received during his time as Mayor. “I want to sincerely thank all the citizens of Georgetown, all the activists, who came out and voted resoundingly for the APNU,” he said.
He concluded, “I want to also thank the vendors, who stood by my side from the beginning to the ending of my tenure as mayor. I want to thank all of the businesses as well in the city of Georgetown, who supported the Office of the Mayor during this period of time.”
