The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is moving to regularise auto-body, spray painting and scrap iron operations in the city in the coming weeks, Town Clerk Royston King announced on Monday.
Speaking during a consultative session with stakeholders at City Hall, King said the move to regularise such businesses is in keeping with the M&CC’s plan to restore order to the municipality.
“The vision we have for Georgetown is that when you look into every sector and when you look into every segment of our economy, you must see order… Under the law, we have the statutory responsibility to regulate any and all business operating in the city, so we will register all these businesses,” he said, while also listing mechanical workshops as being among the operations that will be targeted.
Additionally, the Town Clerk noted that the regularisation of the businesses will address issues associated with their operations, including the improper management of council space and waste disposal.
“Often time, we find the oil used by these places dumped in our waterways and if you dump oil into the waterways, if you dump battery oil in the waterways, you find that you are affecting the natural ecology. And if you’re affecting the natural ecology, you are affecting the natural environment; eventually, you will affect the health of those in your community in which you operate,” King contended. “We need to draw your attention to these very, very serious issues that we need to begin to correct,” he added.
Regarding what can be described as irresponsible use of space, King said, “You have to pay attention to the amount of space you are taking up in the neighbourhood; some people operate mechanical workshops and auto body workshops but they don’t have the space. As a result of that, they are infringing on the private property of other people in the neighbourhood and those people are calling and complaining bitterly.”
He also believes that such occurrences also pose a traffic hazard since vehicles often line both sides of the road in front of such establishments, thus narrowing the width of the roadway, which should not be happening.
Further, he said the M&CC is looking at auto-dealerships that are unlawfully occupying council reserves.
“So, people are using the city’s space to do auto sales and it is a similar situation we are finding with mechanical workshops as well as with those doing auto body and those doing spray painting,” King related.
Moving forward, the Town Clerk explained that the M&CC will be conducting “interagency inspections” to ensure that businesses are in compliance with council requirements before any certification is given.
Explaining the interagency approach, King said the inspection will allow for representatives from entities such as the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Central Planning and Housing Authority, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) and the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) to visit locations to see operations and offer guidance.
Registration for inspection is expected to begin next Monday at City Hall at a cost of $3,000 per business.
Once a business is found to be in compliance with the necessary regulations, it will be registered with the M&CC and will receive certification. Registration will have to be renewed on an annual basis.
If, however, the guidelines are not met, the M&CC would allow the business owner three months to become compliant with assistance from the council if necessary.
“For those who would be unable to meet these requirements, we will visit to ascertain if assistance can be given to relocate under certain conditions or whether operations will be shut down until you find a place,” the Town Clerk explained.
King also made a proposal to business owners to exercise their corporate social responsibility by engaging young men and women from their community in skills training.
“We have the responsibility to try to improve the conditions of the communities we exist in and we believe that if we have partners, we can do it,” he posited.
The call for registration was met with mostly positive feedback from those who attended, and the only issues raised were those relating to the dissemination of the necessary information regarding the required criteria for registration.
Additionally, some attendees suggested that incentives be given to those who are willing to facilitate the skills training for members of their community.
