Plans on stream to renovate the entire block – Julian Francis

Money had already been allocated by the Government to renovate the buildings in Kingstown which were gutted by fire last Sunday evening.

So says Julian Francis, Minister of State within the Ministry of Transportation and Works, who disclosed in an interview{{more}} with SVG TV that the fire had simply accelerated the process.

“We have decided that we will take the structures down and barricade the place and make it look presentable…. particular the old brick building. With that heat that was in that, you never could tell what could happen; it could collapse later on…”

The senator said the Government is moving very soon to take the burnt buildings down and to get the place barricaded.

He said Government’s plans for the renovation of the area include the property formerly owned by BAICO, which is now owned by Government.

“The plan will be the entire block. That is the old treasury building from the post office down to NCB to the back, including the British American property and the old government printery.”

The minister also disclosed that employees of the neighbouring Registry and Inland Revenue Departments were sent home yesterday to allow for their offices, which had been filled with smoke and had suffered minimal water damage to be cleaned.

He also praised the firefighters for their speed in putting out the blaze.

“The fire department did well. We had just moved the registry from the old registry building down at court house into those renovated premises … and my fear was it might very well have gone over there, but they did well to contain it.”

Francis also confirmed that none of the buildings that were burnt had been occupied.

He acknowledged that there may have been some remnants of old files being stored in the buildings, but the bigger problem that the police had in the past was the presence of vagrants invading those buildings.

The minister said that the cause of the fire is yet to be determined.