Mayor Patricia Chase-Green has met with officers of the City Engineer’s Department and urged them to increase the efficiency with which plans are processed.
According to a release from the Mayor and City Council yesterday, the Mayor said that citizens have to wait too long for the approval of building plans.
According to the Mayor the standard operating procedure must change so that waiting time for approval of plans is lessened. Chase-Green said “it is important that we improve the way we perform, so that the citizens can be satisfied with the service we provide”.
The City Engineer, Colvern Venture said that there are a number of factors that cause approval of plans to be delayed. Venture said, according to the release, that some citizens when submitting their application do not supply all the supporting documents and therefore the plans cannot be processed. He added that some citizens decide at the last minute to change the design of the building and this can also cause delays. Venture further stated that some citizens submit plans and want approval immediately.
Venture also pointed out that there are other organisations that have a role in the approval process and this also contributes to the delay. The Mayor noted that the approval of a building plan should not take more than three months.
The mayor’s admonition followed recent complaints about delays including one from Edward B Beharry and Company.
Sources close to the company had revealed that five months after its initial approach to the council in relation to one of its proposed locations at the NALICO building at Regent and Hincks streets it was still being given the runaround.
A second application to the council in March this year for its site on Vlissengen Road was met with silence, sources said.
Sources said the Beharry company had applied at the end of December 2015 for a permit to remodel the Regent and Hincks streets site for a KFC outlet. After the council had requested a series of documents from the company, the final application was tendered on January 14, 2016. Verbal approval was then given for the start of work and to erect a barrier. However, on March 31, workers from the council stopped the work reportedly on the instruction of Town Clerk Royston King. The company was told that it could restart work but that the barriers could only be two feet away from the building. This the company said was not feasible and on April 4, city personnel again said that the work must come to an immediate halt.
Following a report which appeared in the May 22 Sunday Stabroek on this matter, Chase-Green told a May 23rd statutory meeting of the council, upon an enquiry by councillor Alfred Mentore, that she was personally looking into the matter to ensure that the company is given approval in a timely manner.
The meeting was told that both applications were being looked at.
The city release yesterday said that persons who are seeking to erect a new building, add or alter to an existing building should submit the following: a certified copy of ownership (transport or lease), Surveyors Plan of the land, three copies of their Building Plan and recent rates receipts.
Persons who live in areas that are designated sewerage areas should also seek approval from Guyana Water Inc.
