What’s with the building code?
Editorial
Kaieteur News
June 6, 2004
Early Friday morning some high winds struck coastal Guyana with tragic consequences for some households. The winds ripped roofing from some homes, toppled trees on to some others and in a few cases, sent some houses crashing to the ground.
Fortunately, no one died but given the time when the winds struck, one is left truly amazed that there were only minor injuries in the few cases that falling objects struck an individual.
Guyana is outside the hurricane belt so its people have nothing to worry about when the hurricane season begins. But given the effects of that squall early Friday morning one is left to wonder at what could be if Guyana were to be struck by any wind approaching hurricane force.
Surely it brings our construction practices into question. One could readily understand that in the absence of a particular threat people need not worry about taking measures to guard against that threat. But there must be certain minimum standards.
For example, we should build homes that could withstand the minimum of high winds and tremours. This is not often the case when carpenters erect structures. The building is not pinned to the columns.
The main area seems to be the way we install roofing. All too often there are reports of zinc sheets sent flying across the landscape. These certainly become missiles given heir sharp edges.
To date, no zinc sheet has killed anyone but given the frequency with which these sheets take on a life of their own during high winds it could only be a matter of time. Certainly, mere nails are not enough.
But high winds and earth tremours apart, we must also examine the tall structures that are springing up in the city. Like any town or city, there must be building codes. In Guyana, these codes are fast flying through the window in the same way the zinc sheets take off in high winds.
Surely the people to enforce the rules must see these structures going up. If the construction is being undertaken in Georgetown then the plan must be approved by the City Council. Lesser folk had their simple constructions torn down because City Hall did not approve the building plan.
For the tall structures to go up suggests that somehow and somewhere a plan was submitted and approved. Given our lax enforcement policies, we are tempted that someone or a group of individuals collected an inducement from the owner of the property, then used whatever authority that may reside in the person who undertook the approval to give the go ahead.
Yet that should not escape notice. The powers that be would certainly see the construction, challenge the contractor and take the necessary action. But this seems to be more in the exception than in the rule.
Who can forget the challenge to the property aback of the Georgetown Prisons? Someone was actually building another storey that could have afforded anyone a clear view inside the prison walls. If City Hall approved the construction then someone ignored the code. Under pressure the homeowner was made to curtail any plan that he or she might have had. But there are taller business entities in other parts of the city. During their construction we had people in the vicinity of the construction talking about damage to their property. Some moved to the courts.
In one case, we had a homeowner expressing the fear that the tall structure could come crashing down on his home. This may yet happen.
Meanwhile, the building code is being flouted and there seems to be precious little that the authorities are prepared to do.