City Council issues parapets warning
Guyana Chronicle
November 15, 2006
THE Georgetown Mayor and City Council is advising all persons within the geographic boundaries of the city that its crews are demolishing and removing all encumbrances on parapets and verges.
In a statement yesterday, the council said this move is necessary since it will bring some semblance of order to the aesthetics of the city.
According to the M&CC, many businesses have put up signs on council parapets and reserves without the requisite permission.
In some instances, the parapets are encumbered with derelict vehicles, sand, stone and old furniture and the council said this contravenes the Municipal and District Council Act Chapter 28:01.
The Act, it said, states that: “No person shall leave, place or store, or cause to be left, placed or stored, any vehicle, cart, dray, barrel, box, dust bin, tree trunk, branch, limb, or other thing upon any street, parapet, pavement, or footpath, or any other way encumber any street, parapet or pavement with any vehicle, cart, dray, barrel, box dust bin or other thing.”
“The City Engineer shall have the power to remove any such vehicle, cart, barrel, box, dust bin, tree trunk, branch, limb or other thing whatsoever left, placed or stored contrary to paragraph (1), and the cost of removing any such thing may be recovered by the Town Clerk in a court of competent jurisdiction from any person,” the law states.
“Persons are warned to remove all such encumbrances or face the consequences,” the M&CC said.
The government last week said it has assembled a special task force under the direction of Cabinet to head and oversee a massive multi-million-dollar clean-up and beautification of Georgetown and its environs.
President Bharrat Jagdeo last Wednesday said he had given clear instructions for a major and long-term clean-up of the city and surrounding areas.
“I am giving notice; I don’t want to sound acrimonious or to sound harsh, but we have to clean up and this is not just a short-term thing for World Cup cricket - it is going to last beyond that and I have already given clear instructions,” he warned.
Speaking with reporters immediately after the formal and grand dedication ceremony for the cricket stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara, where some of the matches for Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 will be played, President Jagdeo said the beautification campaign has been stepped up.
“We all want to see a clean place and a beautiful environment,” the President said, pointing out that this will be the first impression on the minds of tourists and others when they visit Guyana.
He assured that even “the little issues”, such as animals on the roadways, will be aggressively tackled because “these little things matter”.
The President also lamented that there are businessmen who own plots of land in downtown Georgetown that have become virtual eyesores for passersby and residents.
Alluding to one such plot of land on Robb Street which looks like a dump site, Mr. Jagdeo said “all it would take this man (the owner) is $10,000 to clean up a piece of land that he is requesting $200M for, that he wouldn’t keep clean.”
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon last week said the administration has assembled a task force under Cabinet’s direction to head the Georgetown clean-up and beautification effort.
According to him, heightened attention is being provided by the Ministry of Public Works, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.