OWNERS of mechanical, as well as body works and scrap metal shops, will now be required to pay the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) a registration/inspection fee of $3000 on a yearly basis. Moreover, the operators will also have to now pay additional fees to maintain certain licenses that the M&CC is requiring them to have to be able to comply with a “specific format” that all workshops will be guided by.
Beginning sometime next week, Town Clerk Royston King yesterday told a packed room of operators at City Hall that the M&CC will be visiting their premises to inspect what degree they are measuring up to the standards for the trade.
Those who are compliant will be registered by the M&CC at the above-mentioned cost and must renew their registration each year after inspection.
Those who are non-compliant will be given about three months to correct themselves. King said the M&CC will help such operators to become compliant.
In those cases where it is impossible for the operator to become compliant, such as if the workshop is at an inappropriate location, King said the business will have to cease until the owner can be relocated.
Chief Engineer, Colvern Venture, told the workshop owners that it is of grave concern to the M&CC that some of them are operating outside of the boundaries of the prescribed regulations and are not even meeting the minimum ones.
A lot of complaints are forwarded to the M&CC, he noted, regarding noise nuisance, sprays spilling over to the neighbours, and substances that are harmful for the human body.
He pointed out that the operators must now obtain a ‘Land Use Clearance’ from the Central Housing and Planning Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Guyana Fire Service, and the City Council.
Venture assured those gathered that the M&CC was not seeking to put them out of business but to put them on notice that they should get their act together.
The Town Clerk added that it is unacceptable for those workshop owners who conduct their business using the council’s pavements, roadsides, and reserves. This practice greases up the road, which can be dangerous to pedestrians, blocks the free flow of traffic and sees toxic materials going into the drains.
King also alluded to the fact that using the council’s reserves contributes to traffic congestion because some customers would park wherever they feel like. This problem, he noted, is compounded on streets that are narrow.
One workshop representative subsequently expressed concern that many of these new changes will come at a cost to business owners. He further noted that many of them do not have the resources to meet these new requirements and that some are merely renting facilities to conduct their business. He pleaded with the Council to help them find alternative city space.