Mayor concerned about buildings being erected without approval

– says “I don’t know what the City Engineering Dept does be doing”

Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine has vented his concerns over the functioning of the City’s Engineering Department after several Councillors raised concerns over the construction of “illegal buildings” in the city.
The matter was raised during this week’s statutory meeting wherein two Councillors explained that buildings are seemingly being constructed without the requisite approval from the Council. In some cases, they contended, the structures are being erected on the city’s reserves.

“All throughout the constituencies, my constituency, there are illegal buildings going up,” one of the Councillors raised during the meeting.
Another Councillor, Dawn Stewart, confirmed her knowledge of these “illegal” buildings”.
“We have persons constructing buildings without permission and enclosing other neighbours, and people are complaining,” she said.
The Councillors questioned whether inspectors are being dispatched to look into these developments, and, in response, Mayor Narine vented his frustration with the functioning of the City’s Engineering Department.
“I don’t know what the City Engineering Department does be doing. The City Engineering Department has been one of the departments that is not functioning at the level of the City Council. There are problems that are there for decades, letters have been written to myself, forwarded to the head, Mr. [Colvern] Venture, who (does) not respond, and these issues keep mounting up every day,” the Mayor contended.
The Mayor went on to highlight previous instances wherein the City Engineer’s Department had not performed optimally. He highlighted a particular instance wherein works which needed to be done at the Solid Waste Building were never done.
“The issue with the Solid Waste Building is way before we got this problem, and on to date, we can’t get a way forward with the electrical works at the Solid Waste Building, that lies in your hands months now. You had promised in a committee meeting with myself (and) the treasurer that the matter would be resolved in a week, it’s months now and you never submit nothing,” the Mayor told City Engineer Venture.
For his part, Venture contended that he cannot take any action against these ‘illegal structures’ unless he gets direction from the Council.
In response, the Mayor encouraged the Councillors to write letters of complaint to the City Engineer, and that, in consultation with the Deputy Mayor, the issues would be examined and addressed.