Too many liquor shops in the streets – Social Sector Committee

Social Sector Committee Chairperson Indra Chandarpal

As the parliamentary Social Sector Committee embarks on its quest to address noise nuisance in society, members pointed out that there are too many liquor shops in society, as they questioned the procedure used to grant permits.

At the committee’s meeting on Friday, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament (MP) Volda Lawrence and People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) MP Vindhya Persaud quizzed fire chief Marlon Gentle and City Council representatives, city engineer Colbert Venture and supervisor for building inspection Marlon Harris.

Lawrence asked whether there are limits as to how many permits and licences should be granted within a zoning area or regulations regarding the construction of a liquor shop or hosting of a social event. She also asked what criteria are used to issue permits for those events or businesses which are in close proximity with each other.

Fire chief Marlon Gentle

“You need to look at that sometimes. There are three functions going on and everybody in the area will cry out, because from one time or the other you are getting that collage of noise coming at you and that’s an issue,” the MP stated.  She suggested that the authorities adopt a first come-first serve policy whereby only the first person to seek permission will be granted approval.

Approval process

With respect to the social activities, Building Inspection Supervisor Harris explained that permission can only be granted for public places and most of the events are being held on reserved lands. However, he noted that when plans are submitted to City Council for the establishment of a business, they are forwarded to the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) for processing and approval.

 “They are the ones who determine yes or no, permission could be granted,” Harris said. He disclosed there are no consultations during this process; however, there are members on the CH&PA board from the various agencies involved and they are the ones who decide whether or not to grant the approval.

City Engineer Colbert Venture explained that when an application is presented to the board, a representative from the CH&PA inspects the premises to see whether the criteria are met after which a report is presented to the board for approval.

He noted that after approval is granted, the City Council will go out and inspect what is being built against what was approved, and the Guyana Fire Service on a yearly basis inspects the businesses to ensure they are in par with the regulations. If these are not adhered to, then the businesses will be written to and a letter sent to the City Engineer Department for further action.

Innovative

Social Sector Committee Chairperson Indra Chandarpal pointed out to the members that as policymakers, they must look into the discomfort of the people and amend the laws to alleviate this.

“You, as the policymakers, must not be allowed to feel helpless. We must be able to come up and think out of the box as to how we should protect, because these are our various constituencies. We are here for a purpose and we have to protect their interests,” she stated.

Fire Chief Gentle told the committee that they will have to go back to the laws and look at zoning and the environmental aspects.

 “Just looking at what the fire service and the magistrate will do is not enough. It is bigger than this, it’s what needs to be the standard for noise nuisance in Guyana and how do we legislate it,” he said.