A City Constabulary officer stands guard at one of the Industrial Site, Ruimveldt roads
…demands $25,000 container fee
… business community bemoans bullyism, extortion
By Ramona Luthi
The business community was dealt a severe blow on Tuesday when the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) blocked several streets in Georgetown and its environs, demanding that a $25,000 fee be paid for each container to traverse the city streets.
The first instance of this occurrence was about 12:00h at the John Fernandes Limited Wharf, Robb and Water Streets, when City Council officials barred container trucks from leaving the wharf unless a $25,000 fee imposed on loaded containers was paid.
Speaking with Guyana Times, management staff of John Fernandes Terminal explained that they were approached by the Deputy Town Clerk, Sherry Jerrick, on behalf of the M&CC on Tuesday and were informed that all laden container trucks must pay a fee of $25,000 to traverse the city streets or be blocked at the wharves.
Terminal Operations Manager Jeremy Fernandes related that based on his understanding, the fee was not being implemented against the shipping company, but against the consignee of each container. However, since it would be a difficult task for M&CC to contact the consignees, the municipality is demanding the fee from the company expecting that it would be reimbursed by the respective consignees.
“They’re instituting a by-law where all laden trucks must pay a fee for the usage of the city streets and this is not implemented against the shipping company or shipping lines per se, but really and truly against the consignee of each container, but seeing that they can’t directly reach the consignee at this point in time, they’re instituting it against us and expecting us to claim that revenue back from the consignee,” Fernandes related.
He further relayed to this newspaper that the company was given no notice nor engaged in any discussion pertaining to the container fee prior to the blockage. “We had no warning where we could have alerted the consignees and say ‘well, look this charge will be implemented, we will pay and then you send your payment,, so at this point we’re basically stuck between what we can do and what we should do,” he pointed out.
Nevertheless, the John Fernandes’ officials highlighted that they were currently seeking legal advice before making any payments to City Hall, highlighting they were ensuring that their rights were not being compromised.
“We are trying to get our lawyers at the moment to get something done,” Alan Fernandes, a Director of John Fernandes, told this publication. Guyana Times was told that the charge of $25,000 would be per container and the respective trucks must have a copy of the receipt to present to the relevant clerks in order to be allowed onto the streets.
By-law
M&CC officials were also present outside the Muneshwer’s Wharf, where they also prevented container trucks from entering or leaving unless the $25,000 fee was paid. While there, Deputy Town Clerk Sherry Jerrick told media operatives that the City Council was merely invoking Numbers 273 and 274 of its by-laws with respect to the use of its roads by vehicles of a “certain weight”.
“The container is of a specific weight and it’s not just about parking or landing of the container, but it’s actually the container traversing the roadway,” she explained, noting that there were adequate provisions in the by-laws to prevent persons from driving certain vehicles along the roadways.
Jerrick added too that the fee was based on provisions in the Municipal and District Council Act.
Additionally, several other companies faced the same fate throughout the day. Companies in the Industrial Site, Ruimveldt area found themselves in the same situation when container trucks attempted to use roadways but were prevented from doing so unless a receipt was produced as evidence that the $25,000 fee was paid.
When Guyana Times spoke to the city officers who were refusing entrance to the container trucks in the Ruimveldt area, this publication was told by the officers that they were merely informed not to allow entry to the trucks but were given no other explanation.
In an interview with Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase Green, it was related that the stoppage of the container trucks was done to facilitate maintenance work, since the trucks were causing severe damage to the roads. She highlighted that the talk of a fee being imposed was merely a “rumour”.
“They block the roads because the road is going to go under repair, they close off the roads. The roads are being damaged by heavy-duty vehicles which more or less utilise our streets. There would have been some intervention by administration to prevent some heavy-duty vehicles from traversing the city streets…..I am not aware of the demand to pay the $25,000 fee so that might have been a rumour in this instance,” the Mayor said.
However, several city businessmen described the move as blatant bullyism and extortion.
City Hall’s action to levy $25,000 on each container leaving city wharves came on the heels of a City Magistrate last week discharging at least four cases of a similar nature, after lawyers defending clients accused of not paying the container tax said the law under which their clients were charged was not applicable because it referred to the discharge of goods and livestock from vessels moored alongside market stellings.
M&CC’s “road assessment”
Meanwhile, in an effort to pacify the situation, which was outrightly rejected by several prominent members of the business community, the M&CC in a statement late Tuesday evening claimed that it conducted a “road assessment” exercise that saw particular thoroughfares being closed to heavy-duty vehicles.
“Industrial Site road and Water Street are the first two areas that are being addressed. The Industrial Site road is of particular concern to the Council since it is almost impassable. One of the municipal daycare is located in that area and the deteriorated road is of great concern to persons who live there. The daycare is convenient to persons who work and live at Industrial Site,” the Council stated.
It noted that sections of Water Street have also deteriorated to the point where vehicles are using single lanes. The Council sees this as an unnecessary threat to citizens and is eager to correct this issue. Robb Street and Avenue of the Republic were also mentioned for repairs in a previous announcement regarding road works.
According to the Council, the “road assessment” work will continue in other sections of the city this weekend.
