Written by Leroy Smith
The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has secured a 50 year lease for a once controversial investment site, to build its headquarters.
The land at Liliendaal was to see the construction of a multi-million dollar investment, sporting a luxury hotel and several other facilities. The venture went ‘belly up’ when the overseas investor breached its agreement with a local businessman.
On Thursday (June 08, 2017) at a press conference, the GRA Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia told members of the media that the building which currently houses the GRA headquarters and almost 900 employees is no longer sufficient.
He said that the GRA has since acquired the land from the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC).
The News Room is aware that upto December 2014, the investors had not completed their payment for the plot of land at Liliendaal. It appears that the land was repossessed and leased to the GRA.
GRA is in the process of getting the architecture designs for the building which will then be forward to Cabinet for approval, following which the tendering process would commence.
With respect to the present building being used by GRA which was once owned by CLICO, Cabinet has given approval to erect a roof over the concrete layer at the top of the building which currently acts as a roof.
This was necessary as most parts of the building leaks whenever it rains. According to the GRA head, there are three inches of water in some offices after it would have rained. There have since been efforts to drill holes to the side of the building to get rid of the water.
The contract for the placement of the roof over the structure has been awarded to InFab and has a price tag of approximately 57 million Guyana dollars.
This roof is not expected to use any heavy materials as according to Statia, they were advised by persons from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and individuals who were involved with the initial construction and design of the building that no enormous weight can be added to the already sinking building.
As a result of this, the building will not be using any Zinc Sheets and InFab is expected to use “a special kind of material” which would be durable.
