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Undercover CH&PA officials buy food from illegal Chinese restaurant — legal actions initiated
Enforcement officials checking the legality of a Chinese restaurant in Diamond last week managed to buy two boxes of foods while posing undercover as customers.
After purchasing the food, they introduced themselves as enforcement officials from Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).
“They were met with hostile reaction from the people in the restaurant,” a senior CH&PA disclosed Friday.
The authority has now sent the file to its legal department to start proceedings in a case that will test the capacity of that state entity to carry out enforcements at a time when a construction boom appears to be in full swing, thanks largely to oil related activities.
The Chinese restaurant, Georgie’s, located on the Diamond access road, East Bank Demerara, defiantly opened last year despite being turned down by CH&PA board for a permit to open a restaurant.
The reason for the denial was that particular strip of land on the main road in Diamond is not allowed for commercial or business activities.
File photo: The reopened restaurant
After being turned down last year, and despite being notified by the Grove/Diamond Neighbourhood Democratic Council, the Chinese owners refused to close even though they had no permission.
Neighbours became angry because of the closeness to a number of upscale homes with Customs officials and others living around there.
The neighbours even shared videos of dogs being beaten by a Chinese national at the restaurant.
It was discovered that the owners bought out a residence and converted it to a restaurant in anticipation of permission.
However, health and environmental officials descended on the restaurant after complaints that the oil was being dumped in the surrounding drain.
The shed was illegally built on the neighbour’s fence.
In addition, the smoke stacks from the restaurant were causing distress to neighbours.
“We have no alternative but to now deal with this matter legally,” the CH&PA official explained on Friday.
“We won’t be issuing any permits and frankly I am flabbergasted that they opened back after being told to close earlier this year.”
Indeed, the restaurant had closed for a few weeks in January but recently defiantly opened back over a week ago.
It still has no permit, CH&PA said Friday.
Earlier this year, this newspaper was shown several documents of how CH&PA had refused the Chinese owners of the property a permit.
An official of the local Neighbourhood Democratic Council of the Grove/Diamond area said, recently, that they are not aware of the reopening.
“This is the only country in the world where we as Guyanese are so disrespected. There is no way in the world where we can go and have no permits and still refuse to comply and nobody doing anything. We have become second class citizens in our own country,” said one of the neighbours’ wives recently.
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