Almost two months after it was first highlighted by this newspaper the issue of the filling of a trench at Plaisance has not been settled.

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Kellawan Lall told Stabroek News yesterday that he needed to have a briefing with all of the parties involved before he made a final decision on the matter, although he has had one already. He said he had met the chairman and the overseer of the Plaisance Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and others with pertinence to the matter. However, he needs to meet them again before concluding the matter.

Lall also told Stabroek News that he disapproved of previous reports, which stated that “big ones” had given permission to the developer to fill the trench, reportedly to build a car wash. Lall said permission was granted to the developer by the Plaisance NDC several years ago. However, Chairman of the Plaisance NDC, Clinton Rollox, was adamant that the developer had been given permission to build a wash bay from a “higher authority.” He said the NDC had been bypassed in the decision and that he had only signed a ‘no objection’ letter because the man had already received permission to proceed.

Lall said the NDC had breached protocol by not seeking permission from the Local Government Ministry before giving the developer permission to proceed.

He said too that NDCs could not dispose of any property in their jurisdiction without seeking the approval of the Local Government Ministry.

After the issue was highlighted in the August 1 edition of the Stabroek News, Region Four Regional Executive Officer Shafdar Ali had issued a cease-order on the filling of the trench, which is located on the northern side of the Railway Embankment obliquely opposite the NDC building in Plaisance. Ali had said that permission should never have been given to fill a major drainage trench and the NDC should not have allowed it to happen.

Region Four Chairman Clement Corlette had then said that Ali’s cease-order was done subjectively without consulting other officers of the region.