City Hall halts construction

Aug 01, 2017 News

After working several weeks on a building located at the corner of Regent and Wellington Streets, contractors were instructed to halt all works.

The Construction site.

The Mayor and City Council issued a letter to Ms. Vidushree Ramkumar, mother of Devi Ramkumar, the owner of the land, stating that her construction was contrary to her business plan that was previously approved.
A section of the letter states, “(We wish to)bring to your attention one aspect of you contracting contrary to the plan, is that of you not leaving the required and approved set-back distance to the west of the above mentioned property.”
This suggested that Ramkumar had invaded the property of another business owner, who is located on the western half of sub-lot D, to accommodate her own.
As a result of this, the business woman was informed that she has 14 days to have her digressions fixed.
She told this newscast that she had received approval from City Council to proceed with her plan, which is now according to City Engineer, Colvern Venture, not in keeping with her agreement.
She explained, “This building is owned by me, Sub-lot East. It has two parts, Sub-lot D and Sub-lot East half is mine. Somebody is telling Council that I have two feet on their land, but according to the measurement, if I have two feet on somebody else’s land, then I have two feet on the Government’s land, so the council is not telling me where is my two feet but the manager told somebody else who don’t have a plan where their two feet is.”
She clarified that she does not wish to mention a name since she has no proof to support her accusations.
Ramkumar said that the property has been in their name since her father left it to them. She even has papers to prove that council had approved this, she said.
She further stated that the council came and carried out measurements on her property some two weeks prior to her beginning construction. Now two weeks later they are saying, “It’s not okay.”
She said they had stopped us without a letter, and the attorney for the other half of the land, R.N. Poonai, sent a letter but never explained which part of her construction needs to be halted.
Venture said he prefers not to pronounce on the matter because he has not seen the owner since the letter was issued.