THE transport presented by Town Clerk, Royston King, to show that Mayor and City Council (M&CC) owns the disputed Lot 1 Mud Lot Lombard Street, popularly called the ‘Sussex Street Wharf’, does not cover the disputed plot of land.

Both the M&CC and the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) are claiming that the land belongs to them. Both entities presented different `Land Transport’ which each says validates their claims to the same plot of land. The disputed plot is the first plot of land north of Sussex Street and west of Lombard Street.

NICIL submitted `Land Transport #525 of 1985’, while the M&CC says their `Transport #2803 of 1966’ shows the land as theirs. However, the land covered on the MCC transport does not correspond to the location of the disputed land.

Both transports were submitted last month during the course of public hearings at the City Hall Commission of Inquiry (CoI), after the issue came up that the M&CC has been leasing the land to a shipping company – Quick Shipping Inc. – since 2016. The company has since paid the M&CC $625, 000 per year for three years.

NICIL wrote the Quick Shipping Inc. shortly after it began occupying the land in 2016, instructing the company that they were trespassing. Proprietor for the company, Paul Sandy, appeared before the CoI with the hopes of getting some answer as to why the M&CC would lease him property they did not own.

King who was summoned before the Inquiry in answer to Sandy’s query, said that Transport #2803/1966 puts the issue to rest, in that the land belongs to the M&CC. King also questioned the authenticity of NICIL’s transport, noting that a previous company – the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) – that was given and subsequently sold the land, did not acquire the land under valid means. According to King, the vesting order giving the company the land was not authenticated.

However, the questioned vesting order has been located in the Parliament Library.
A closer look at the document which the M&CC has leaves much to be desired. Transport #2803/1966 cedes two plots of land to the M&CC, neither of which seems to be the disputed plot of land. The lands came from the East Coast Estates Limited, and Bookers Shipping (Demerara) Limited. For both lands the transport indicates that they are outlined on corresponding plans.

The first plot is the “South half of Lot Number 18, part of that portion of the front lands of Plantation La Penitence cum annexis on the East Bank of the Demerara River”, and ceded from Transport 590 of 1939. The land is outlined on a plan drafted by Land Surveyor H.O Durham and dated 27 September, 1938.

However, a check of this plan at the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) shows that this plot of land does not correspond to the disputed Sussex Street Wharf. On that plan the “South Half of Lot Number 18” is located a number of plots away on the south of Sussex Street, and the east side of Lombard Street.

The second plot of land indicated on Transport #2803/1966 is “Area ‘A’ containing 0.243 of an acre, being portion of the front lands of Plantation La Penitence situated on the East Bank of the Demerara River”. This land is outlined on a plan by Land Surveyor I. S. Mohamed, dated 15 May 1965.

According to Mohamed’s plan “Area ‘A’” is also nowhere near the `Sussex Street Wharf’ land. This plot simply surrounds three sides of “South half of Lot Number 18”. Moreover, there is no mention of Lot 1 Mud Lot, Lombard Street, Georgetown on the MCC’s transport.

The description on the NICIL transport more closely matches the disputed current location, however, the plan for this transport was not lodged at the GL&SC. Transport #525/1985 is outlined on a diagram by Land Surveyor William Hayley dated 24 February 1865. However, at that time plans were being lodged at the Deeds Registry. The Deeds Registry staff have indicated that they no longer have the plans. The transport shows that a land was sold to the Guyana National Engineering Corporation Limited (GNEC) from the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC).

During her testimony before the CoI, attorney for NICIL, Arianne McLean, explained that NICIL owned the land via vesting order #13 of 2002 when the GNEC dissolved all of its property, including Lot 1 Mud Lot Lombard Street and they were legally handed over to NICIL. Prior to Transport 525/1985, the land was transported to the Colony of British Guiana, which bought it from the Demerara Leather and Boot Factory Limited. The land was then vested to the GMC, via Order 97 of 1963.

Transport 1085/1985 describes the land as “Mud Lot or Water Lot 1 situate in Charlestown District, in the City of Georgetown… bounded on the north by Mud Lot 2… on the south by part of Sussex Street, on the East by Lombard Street and on the West by the lower water mark of the Demerara River”.

King in questioning the validity of Vesting Order 97 of 1963, noted that the Vesting Order was never published in the Gazette, which it needed to be in order for it to be considered valid. According to an affidavit by King, he “personally searched and caused the staff of Parliament Office to search their Gazette records and despite diligent searches…we have found no notice bringing (sic) into force the vesting order…of the said Order 97 of 1963” therefore “accordingly any purported passing of the transport to GNEC in 1985 is a fraud”.

However, subsequent to King’s declaration, last Friday Parliament Library staff produced proof that the vesting order was indeed published.