CH&PA halts construction of gas station on Govt reserve

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) issued a cease work notice to the Guyana Tractor and Equipment Company to terminate an unauthorised construction project that is taking place on Government reserve at Plot HN Industrial Reserve, Plantation Ruimveldt, Georgetown.
The order was issued to proprietor of the equipment company, Shamnarine Narine, to cease all activities (development/construction work) with immediate effect under the Town and Country Planning Act, Chapter 20:01 of the laws of Guyana.
According to the CH&PA, Narine on April 30, 2018, submitted an application to the CH&PA for full approval of planning permission to erect a two-storeyed building (25’ – 0 x 55’ -0) for commercial use as a convenience store on the ground floor and offices on the first floor and to install four fuel pumps and three underground tanks for Kerosene, Gasoline and Diesoline for use as a petrol station.
On May 11, 2018, the Convenience Store and offices were recommended for approval on condition that the developer amended plans in accordance with recommendations from the Public Infrastructure Ministry indicating no access from Mandela Avenue.
The CH&PA later disapproved the application after they detected that the site is not suitable for such development. Even though the approval was not given, the contractor continued construction works on the site.
The disapproval of the application came after residents of the Shirley Field-Ridley Square, South Ruimveldt, in a petition to the agency rejected the construction of the gas station and the convenience store and offices and also since it cannot be accessed from Mandela Avenue, which is the main thoroughfare.
The notice was signed for and received by an excavator operator, who is employed by Narine and working on the site.
Additionally, the proposed means of access (Plumbaggo Street and the roadway) are minor streets that cannot serve as means of ingress and egress since they are not suitable and inappropriate, the CH&PA said on Saturday.
Further, according to the agency, it is concerned with the destruction that was caused to the road and road shoulders by heavy-duty equipment used by Narine to drive piles into the ground.