City underlines by-laws for building operations

Amid years of unauthorised constructions, City Hall is warning of the steps required for new constructions or alterations to existing buildings.

In a notice in yesterday’s edition of the Guyana Chronicle, the city said that no person shall erect a new building or add to any existing building unless a notice of the plan is laid over for approval by the City Engineer.

Two weeks ago, City Hall said that several buildings were going up without approved plans, including a large structure on the south eastern corner of Robb and Camp streets.

In the notice published yesterday, the city said that every approval by the City Engineer of a plan shall be in writing at the foot of the plan approved.

The city’s enforcement of such provisions has been lax for many years but the advent of the APNU+AFC administration has seen a revitalising of the municipal council and its various offices. Zoning laws have over the years been routinely violated by builders.

The City said that plans by builders must be laid over in duplicate and must include the purpose for which the building is intended, must be drawn to a scale of not less than one inch to every 8ft. It must also show a range of standard requirements, including the distance of the walls from the boundary lines of the land on which it is to be located.