New $42.5M Passport Office at Lethem never worked

Aug 31, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – A new $42.5M passport office was built for the residents of Lethem, Region Nine in 2021 but it was never used and had the issue not been raised by one of residents on Sunday during a Government outreach at St. Ignatius Village, the building probably would have remained unused for much longer.

Hosting the outreach was President Mohamed Irfaan Ali himself, and raising the issue of the non-functioning Passport Office was Daniel James.

James said to Ali: “There is a building, a Passport Office already built in Lethem, I just want to know when we will be able to use it because it would bring great benefit to the entire Region.”

Ali in his response promised that he will work towards having the building operational within a month’s time. “Ok don’t worry, by time I go back, at the next cabinet, I will raise the issue. I will work to have the Passport Office operational within one month’s time,” Ali said.

The new passport office at Lethem that never worked

The idea to build an Immigration Office in Central Lethem was an initiative by the previous A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government. In December 2018, the then APNU+AFC Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, had announced that his Ministry had set aside some $50M from its $1.6B budget for the construction of the office.

Kissoon and Sons was reportedly awarded the contract for the project in 2019 after agreeing to build it for only $42.5M. Based on information received by this media house the project faced many delays but was finally completed in early 2021 under the current People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government but was never commissioned or utilised.

The money was expended as part of a plan to decentralise immigration services from Georgetown and to eradicate the long lines normally seen in front of the Central Passport Office at Eve Leary. It was argued too that it would save Lethem residents from the hassle of travelling miles and spending lots of money for a trip to the city just to get their passports.

However, nearly a year has passed since the building was completed and Lethem residents are still spending thousands of dollars on transportation services to apply and uplift their passports from the Georgetown office.

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