THE Ministry of Public Infrastructure has commenced regularisation of the placement of advertisements on the concrete seawall with special preference to be given to ads of positive advocacies.

On Sunday a notification of the requirements for the publishing of such ads and notices between the Georgetown and Ogle seawall was published in the newspapers for public knowledge.

It stated that all individuals or entities desirous of publishing advertisements or awareness notices on the wall, are required to pay the applicable fees and comply with the requirements outlined in the Guidelines for Sea Defence advertisement. These guidelines were developed by the Sea Defence Board and approved by Cabinet, Chief Sea and River Defence Officer at the Public Infrastructure Ministry Kevin Samad told the Guyana Chronicle on Sunday.

He stated that the fees to be enforced will vary depending on the visibility of the ad and its dimensions. However, in recent years, there has been much irregularity in the payment of fees for these ads while some persons were placing them without permission.
“They haven’t been paying, so it’s something we’re trying to regularise. The Cabinet has approved a fee there,” Samad began. “The enforcement wasn’t strong enough, so we’re trying to regularise all those things; a lot of folks weren’t aware. There was a period where there was an absence of a fee, so a lot people probably weren’t aware that there’s a fee, they were just going and paint.”

According to the notice, a copy of the guidelines inclusive of applicable fees can be obtained from the Works Services Group on Fort Street, Kingston, Georgetown. It further stated: “Individuals and private entities interested in publishing notices on the seawall in the locations defined above are required to submit a written application to the Chairman, Sea Defence Board, Fort Street, Kingston, Georgetown. The application should provide sufficient information on the reasons for publishing the notice and include a description of the content [pictorial or text] of the notice and an indication of the desired period for which the notice will be displayed on the sea wall.”

Samad explained, too, that some ads take preference depending on the message they have to offer to the wider public. “Of course, we have consideration for awareness campaign ads [in the case that] a ministry or their departments wants to have awareness campaigns such as domestic violence, child abuse, environmental-awareness messages and so forth. We’ll simply waive the fees for those kinds of things,” he said.

Meanwhile, all individuals and entities with existing notices and advertisements on the seawall are required to contact the Chief Sea and River Defence Officer to arrange for the necessary payments.

Before long, the ministry hopes to get this act of regularisation underway as the sea walls remain visible to the thousands who travel daily or utilise the location as a common hangout spot. “We’re going to allow folks to come in because we’ve done a walk through and we have an inventory of all those who have ads there; so we anticipate that in probably a month, two months or so, if some folks don’t come in we still have to contact them. We have no choice,” Samad said.