The historic Bourda Cemetery in Georgetown is being cleaned and restored as part of a wider government effort to improve cemeteries, burial grounds and public spaces across Guyana, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Priya Manickchand has said.
Speaking from the site, Manickchand said the restoration is already underway at the cemetery, which she described as both a burial ground and a possible national landmark or national trust object.
“You couldn’t even see into the cemetery before because it was so taken over by bush and a jungle really in the city,” she said.
The Minister said the work at Bourda is not an isolated project, but part of a broader national approach to bring minimum standards to cemeteries and burial grounds across the country.
According to Manickchand, those standards include regular weeding and maintenance, washroom facilities, fencing or hedging, and an environment where people can visit and pay respect to their loved ones in dignity.
“We are doing this across the country for public burial grounds,” she said, while noting that private burial grounds owned by churches or families can also benefit from shared minimum standards.
Manickchand said the initiative forms part of the government’s wider beautification and restoration programme, aimed at bringing order back to public spaces and making them more pleasant and respectful for those who use them.
The Bourda Cemetery project also emerged from the government’s “Project of Love” initiative, which invited citizens to submit ideas for improving public spaces across Guyana. The Minister said three separate persons submitted designs or proposals for the Bourda Cemetery, showing that members of the public believed the site needed attention.
She said all three persons are now involved in the project.
The restoration has been divided into nine lots, with six women and three men leading those lots as contractors. Manickchand said the contractors have been clearing the area, removing debris and taking out junk from the site.
The Minister also pointed to the cemetery’s historical value, noting that Bourda Cemetery is considered the oldest burial ground in Georgetown, dating back to the 18th century. She said it is the city’s only surviving plantation cemetery and includes headstones with inscriptions in Dutch and English.
According to Manickchand, the cemetery is associated with several notable interments, including John Croal, the first mayor of Georgetown, as well as William Booker and John Patoir.
She said once restored, the site could become both a more respectful space for families and a place of interest for visitors.
“It would be a really nice place for tourists to visit, but also a pleasant place for all the people using Regent Street and Bourda, which is thousands every day,” Manickchand said.
