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Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Annette Ferguson is calling on Public Works Minister Bishop Juan Edghill to fix D’Urban Park, on Homestretch Ave., Georgetown. The maintenance and upkeep of the facility has fallen into disrepair.. A picture tells a thousand words. The photograph above, courtesy of Ferguson, was taken last week.
This Park, historically known for horse racing and other activities, saw massive renovation during the A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition government. Many of Guyana’s 50th Anniversary (2016) outdoor celebrations were held there.
Today the pavilions are dilapidated, tall grasses are blowing in the wind, the parapets are cracked, weeds are fighting their way through, clothes are blowing in the wind, and the homeless have made it their home.
The Park is not only an eyesore but exposes the serious social problem of homelessness and the inability of the Government to manage it.
Calls by ordinary Guyanese to put partisan politics aside and maintain the grounds and environs of D’Urban Park have fallen on deaf ears.
Former minister in the APNU+AFC government in an Op-Ed today has elevated the matter. She is holding Minister Edghill accountable to a promise made in August 2022 that the Park “will not be left as an eye-sore and there are plans to modernise the facility.”
The MP pointed out there that whilst there has been no renovation to the Park, the Government has found money to execute other projects.
“Monies [are] going here, there and everywhere, but NOT to this area,” Ferguson pointed out.
Going further the MP, who served as a junior minister of public infrastructure (public workers) in the coalition government, is recommending money be allocated in the 2025 Budget to fix this Park.
Time will tell how serious the Government is about restoring the Park to its glory or whether this too would be another public infrastructure that would remain in disrepair because it was not built by the incumbent People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government.
