‘Cleanliness and Citizenship Day’ activities kick off today
Guyana Chronicle
September 19, 2003
ACTVITIES to mark ‘Cleanliness and Citizenship Day’ in Georgetown, with sponsorship from Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), will kick off today with City Council workers taking the lead.
A PAHO release said weeding gangs will be deployed on Water and Main as well as those streets linking them, to cut long grass from parapets and special attention will be paid to sanitising the roundabout south of Guyana Stores Limited and East of Muneshwar’s.
Tomorrow, when the campaign will be officially launched, 100 employees from the City Engineer’s and Solid Waste Management departments will be involved in a massive clean-up of the capital. That exercise will take in from Lamaha to Hadfield Streets, Water Street, Avenue of the Republic and High and Main Streets, the release said.
It said three private companies under contract with City Hall - Cevon’s Waste Management, Guy Waste and Puran Bros Waste Management – have volunteered their services for the duration.
The municipality will also collect, transport and dispose of all garbage accumulated at the seawall, with the aid of GUYBERNET volunteers, who would put the focus on trash in water that is harmful to marine life and poses a health risk to beach goers and tourists.
Extra equipment will be at the (Mandela Avenue) landfill site to cope with the large volume of solid waste expected to be dumped there, PAHO said.
The statement reported that two committees have been meeting over the past two weeks to plan Saturday’s programme which is being supported by the City Council, the Police, Government ministries, University of Guyana (UG), the business community and a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
PAHO said Mayor Hamilton Green attended one of the meetings and, after pledging the Council’s support, made suggestions to ensure success.
The statement said a feature of Saturday’s exercise will be the introduction of the ‘Bag in the Bus’ concept, through which buses and other public transport motor vehicles are to be given plastic bags for passengers to use instead of littering the streets.
A rally, beginning about 08:00 hours (8 am) outside Guyana Stores in Church Street, is to precede the actual cleaning.
he main objective of ‘Cleanliness and Citizenship Day’ is to raise the awareness of decision makers and the rest of the population on the significance of public sanitation and community involvement, PAHO said.