With no permission granted for the construction of a concrete manufacturing facility adjacent to South Ruimveldt Gardens, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and the Ministry of Housing and Water have served orders to the principals of the development to cease operations.
The company, Superior Concrete Inc, began construction of their facility at S5 Area ‘S’ Houston, Georgetown, without any authorisation from key stakeholders such as the M&CC, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The CH&PA yesterday served their third cease order on the company as it continues to defy earlier orders. The first notice was served on May 5, while the second was served on Saturday last.
The Authority in a statement yesterday said that when enforcement officers visited the location to serve the first contravention notice, it was destroyed by representatives of the company. This resulted in the second notice being served. With no one present at the property during the second visit, the notice was placed in a visible location as mandated.
With the company disregarding the notices, the Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, along with CH&PA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sherwyn Greaves and others, made an impromptu visit yesterday to observe what was happening on the site.
Upon their arrival, the team was confronted by Directors Richard Austin Shamlin and Ian Jones. Shamlin demanded the ministerial team leave the property and verbally abused Croal.
Speaking with this newspaper yesterday, Croal said he is baffled by the reaction from the directors of the company as the attack was uncalled for. He noted that his visit there was merely to ensure that the developers were compliant with the cease order and remind them of the importance of following procedures.
Croal stressed that the CH&PA too will be ensuring that all of the necessary legal avenues will be employed by the state to ensure that the issue is resolved.
“As a government we welcome investment, but there is a proper manner in which investments are to be done and the first agency that is involved in permits for construction and commercial purposes is the Central Housing and Planning Authority… However, no application was done and secondly when the Central Housing and Planning Authority team came to serve that [first] contravention notice, they were met with a hostile environment,” Minister Croal said.
City Mayor Ubraj Narine yesterday told Stabroek News that only recently was a building application submitted to the City Engineer’s Department with details of the project. He explained that the company began construction and development of the plot way before the application was made.
At Monday’s statutory meeting, councillors took the decision to move to the High Court to completely halt operations at the site.
On this note, Narine said the Deputy Mayor Alfred Mentore is tasked with engaging the council’s attorneys to file an injunction application to immediately halt all projects at Houston Estates that do not have the council’s approval.