Proposed new by-laws to govern the transport and discharge of shipping containers in the city would set fees of up to $45,000 for 40-ft containers.
Although Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and Town Clerk Royston King have publicly stated that the city administration shall be charging businesses a fee of $25,000 to unload containers in the city, the rates set out in the proposed new by-laws, seen by Stabroek News, are higher.
According to the proposed By-law 4A and 4B of the City of Georgetown By-laws: Transportation, Discharge of Shipping Containers, any person wishing to transport and/or discharge a shipping container, the length of which is 20 feet on any street or parapet or any part of any street or parapet within the city, shall pay the council a fee of $30,000.
They say containers which are 40 feet in length would attract a fee of $45,000, while a failure to pay the prescribed fee will attract a penalty fee of two times the amount prescribed and an additional penalty fee of $2,500 payable every day from the day the individual receives notice of the infraction.
Another provision has also been floated to allow for the seizure of containers after a certain period and the sale of their contents to recover costs.
On July 18, Chairman of the City’s Finance Committee, Oscar Clarke had told Stabroek News that the city was moving to create a by-law which would cover the container fee and enable prosecution of those who refused to pay.
In June, King had said that businesses unloading containers in the city were already being charged $25,000, while earlier this month Mayor Chase-Green had said that the sum will only be charged for containers that are parked outside of a business place.
Attempts by the city to implement the fee have resulted in clashes with the business community.
At a meeting last week between City Hall and representatives of the business community, it was agreed that a committee would be set up comprising members of the Shipping Association, the Mayor and City Council, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association and others, with the aim of ironing out the issue revolving around the fees.
The meeting was held after city officials blocked the exit of several container trucks from the John Fernandes and Muneshwer’s wharves while seeking to collect the fees.
Prior to that, the city earlier this month withdrew an action filed against a company for payment because it was bad in law.
Attorney Sase Gunraj, who represented the company, Crown Mining, had also advised the Private Sector Commission that the application of the fee was “arbitrary and unlawful” and could not form the basis of any successful prosecution.
Crown Mining and other city businesses were summoned to court after they were served with letters from the City Council.
Gunraj argued that the city has filed a charge that is bad in law, while noting that the section upon which they are relying to impose the fee does not allow for such.
City Magistrate Annette Singh upheld the argument and ordered that the case be withdrawn.
Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan explained at the council’s fortnightly statutory meeting on Monday that the municipality is presently discussing the container fees with both Central Government and the business community through engagements with the Public Sector Commission and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Duncan chaired Monday’s meeting in the absence of Chase-Green and King, who are in Chile at the Latin America and the Caribbean Mayors’ Pre-Forum.
Speaking with Stabroek News afterwards, Duncan explained that while he believes the fees are needed because of the wear and tear that the vehicles transporting containers cause to the city roads, he believes the fee could be smaller.
“I share the view of some of the councillors that we can go with a smaller fee that tries to capture more containers. If $5,000 were charged on each container, with an average of 7,000 containers per month traversing our streets, then there would be an approximate collection of $40M per month.
The hope is to limit the impact such a fee might have on the consumers to whom the business might transfer costs,” he said.
