City Hall delays commercial construction – businessman tells CoI

The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) had been in the spotlight for the past few days, as it relates to its failure to grant business applications for construction and pending documents which were never approved.
The issue has affected the operations of many businessmen who took the opportunity to testify at the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) so that their matters can be resolved.
Malcolm Panday served as a witness on Friday, where it was heard that he was facing a similar problem. It surrounded the intention of constructing a modern eight-storey building on a Water Street property, which currently houses a structure that is popularly known as the ‘zinc bond’.
After being granted approval by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) 13 years ago, Panday told the Commission that he could not commence construction because the City Hall has refused to give permission to cordon off the perimeter of land.
“The office has for years repeatedly refused to give me the usual and necessary permission to cordon off the areas along the perimeter of the land approved for building,” he said in a statement, which was submitted as evidence.
Despite being engaged several times, he noted that no action had been taken by the City Hall since the vendors outside the bond were authorised by the Council to ply their trades in close proximity to the property. As such, finalised documents would mean that the M&CC would have to relocate the payment merchants.
“Permission is not forthcoming because the M&CC has vendors occupying the perimeter of the four sides of the land approved for the construction; North pavement (Regent Street), West pavement (Water Street), South pavement (South Street) and the East pavement (West Alley). These vendors are blocking the four sides of my ‘Zinc Bond’ and denying me ingress and egress.”
Since 2007, Panday expressed that he would’ve offered to facilitate the movement of the vendors. However, no actions were taken. The businessman noted that he is unable to start the works since persons can be hurt and their stalls can cave in when the foundation is dug.
“The vendors on my land were able to make a good living and within that 13 years, not having to pay rent, nor rates and taxes, they built good foundations, acquiring assets like house and land, vehicles…”
Another affair of concern was the struggles that many enterprises are faced with in relation to parking. It was underscored that offloading of goods has been difficult since vehicles are occupying the spaces in front of these stores.
Just a few days ago, the Chief Executive Officer of Camex Restaurants, Terence Campbell, had blasted City Hall for failing to approve numerous applications for respective properties. Campbell hinted that he was told that a bribe could fix the situation to which he responded that such acts would not be engaged.