CH&PA Board is a hindrance to development

Oct 06, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
I am following up with some additional concerns to the revelations made by a Mr. Campbell. In addition to the run around at city hall for the approval of plans, it is common for the engineers and inspectors to frustrate clients with endless requirements and rejection for even small domestic development.
The word around is that if you don’t pass “something”, you get nothing. This leads to the inspectors simply wasting people’s time until they succumb to the frustration and then decide to resort to bribery to get their plans passed.
In terms of the commercial aspect of plans, the major bottleneck in the system is the Planning Department in the Central Housing and Planning Authority. The staff at this department are quite welcoming people; however, the supervisor in charge literally behaves like a “pig” and refuses to speak and clarify any questions as it relates to queries even though the staff would seem hesitant to answer questions which are normally directed to her.
The Planning department along with the CHPA Board is the largest hindrance to infrastructural development in Guyana as they tend to often overstep their jurisdiction with things such as the structural design and elements, which would have already been approved by the city engineer who’s the sole person qualified and designated to approve or disapprove such.
In relation to the very long waiting list of applications at CHPA, the “Board of Dictators” sees it fit to only reach once per month to approve such. How can this country move forward when there are businesses eager to expand and invest in this country only to be discouraged by the disappointment meted out to them by the CHPA board and the Planning department at CHPA?
Approval timelines vary from three months up to infinity in some cases where you never hear from them until after numerous inquiries. The planning department tends to dictate what type of businesses can be developed and where without any guidelines or justifications.
The usual rejection letter would state that, “no such business exists in the immediate surroundings and as such permission cannot be granted”. I have seen quite a few rejection letters and they are basically a photocopy of the same list of lame excuses.
In my telephone call to this department recently, I requested where I can get information as to what developments are permitted in different areas of Georgetown but was met with an answer that there exist no such information and my further question was how this is decided and the person on the line further stated that the board decides which business can be operated where.
How can such dictatorship exist in a democracy? This type of operation without a level playing field and any sort of future planning opens room for corruption where only those favoured and those who pay bribes will be able to carry out developments.
This type of operation by the CHPA needs to be addressed and revised as all Guyanese are affected directly or indirectly by the sloth of development.
Yours truly
Prominent Architect

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