The new Caricom headquarters

The new Caricom headquarters building in Turkeyen which is under construction, is still to get the blessings of City Hall though a plan has been submitted to the CH&PA.

At their last statutory meeting councillors agreed to have a dialogue rather than adopting a confrontational approach with the government over the non-submission of a building plan.

According to GGG councillor John, the council has a duty to act against anyone who is not in compliance with the building by laws, and he received the support of the People’s National Congress Reform councillor Oscar Clarke.

Asked by Mayor Green to explain, the city engineer said it is a diplomatic building and as such the owners ...in this case the government...is not obliged to submit plans to the council.

It was revealed that a plan is in existence and is with the Central Housing and Plan-ning Authority...CH&PA.

Councillor John, an attorney-at-law, said the CH&PA decides on land use and if there is a breach of the building laws the council has the power to act.

Councillor Clarke was of the view that while the council is seeking a dialogue with the government it should proceed legally to settle the issue.

Councillor John who is a member of the CH&PA is to take up the council’s position when he attends the next meetings of the Authority.

Etcetera
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Over the past few weeks lots of attention has been given to the non-performance of some municipalities with calls for a radical change in the status quo including the leaderships. The two big townships Linden and New Amsterdam have been in the spotlight..... isn’t it time for the spotlight to be put on City Hall?

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Is the council waiting on an injunction before it removes the vendors on Bourda Street...between Regent and Robb streets?

Too many breaches of building rules occurring - Green
“To much is happening in the city without our taking notice....” Commented Mayor Hamilton Green during a debate by city councillors on the number of breaches of the municipal building by laws.

These breaches are being committed by owners of properties of both old and new buildings in several parts of Georgetown.

At the last statutory meeting of the council the performance of the building inspectorate within the city engineers department attracted the attention of city ‘fathers’ and ‘mothers’ and what was depicted was a group of council employees who have gone out of control and were doing their ‘own thing’.

Despite a report by the late architect Mr Charles Liburd who had investigated the City Engineer’s Department some 4 years ago, in which he recommended the immediate end to the practice by building inspectors drawing plans for buildings to be erected in the city, the situation remains the same.

The Liburd report which cost the council $300,000 also noted that some of these inspectors had been guaranteeing that the plans would be passed once they were given the job of drawing the plan.

A case in point is the newly constructed 4-storey building at Cummings and Robb Streets, in which two building inspectors were involved. One of them who was responsible for checking buildings in the area where the new building is sited has been dismissed for misleading the city engineer Mr Cephas James.

The charges against the building inspector who did not draw the plan but signed it, include .... “omission of significant measurements in the plan, the unauthorized waiving of boundaries between two lots and a variation for the submitted plan...”

In addition the building inspector admitted that he was unaware that as building inspector for the area he ought not to have signed the plan for which he had been paid.

The inspector who drew the plan never visited the site, but was supplied with a sketch of what should be drawn by his colleague who was designated as “the project owner”. After the city works committee headed by Good and Green Guyana councillor C.M.L. John had listened to presentations by both building inspectors, the employee who approved the plan as being in order, was found guilty of gross misconduct with the recommendation that he be dismissed.

Since this story first appeared in this column the question is being asked....why was the owner or owners of the Cummings and Robb streets building allowed to go ahead putting up a 4-storey structure unknown to the City Engineer’s Department’s honchos? It boggles the mind.

The new Caricom headquarters building in Turkeyen which is under construction, is still to get the blessings of City Hall though a plan has been submitted to the CH&PA.

At their last statutory meeting councillors agreed to have a dialogue rather than adopting a confrontational approach with the government over the non-submission of a building plan.

According to GGG councillor John, the council has a duty to act against anyone who is not in compliance with the building by laws, and he received the support of the People’s National Congress Reform councillor Oscar Clarke.

Asked by Mayor Green to explain, the city engineer said it is a diplomatic building and as such the owners ...in this case the government...is not obliged to submit plans to the council.

It was revealed that a plan is in existence and is with the Central Housing and Plan-ning Authority...CH&PA.

Councillor John, an attorney-at-law, said the CH&PA decides on land use and if there is a breach of the building laws the council has the power to act.

Councillor Clarke was of the view that while the council is seeking a dialogue with the government it should proceed legally to settle the issue.

Councillor John who is a member of the CH&PA is to take up the council’s position when he attends the next meetings of the Authority.

Etcetera

*****

Over the past few weeks lots of attention has been given to the non-performance of some municipalities with calls for a radical change in the status quo including the leaderships. The two big townships Linden and New Amsterdam have been in the spotlight..... isn’t it time for the spotlight to be put on City Hall?

******

Is the council waiting on an injunction before it removes the vendors on Bourda Street...between Regent and Robb streets?