Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 03, 2014 Letters
Dear Sir,
Once again, we, at the Mayor and City Council, have been taken by surprise by the announcement made by Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, to cover City canals. We are particularly worried with three aspects of this recently announced proposal.
First, the Mayor and City Council was not consulted on this proposal. This is deeply troubling because the Mayor and Councilors are the people’s representatives. They should be properly informed and involved in major projects, such as the one announced, to add or take away value from the economy and general welfare of city. Covering canals-the provision of additional space to facilitate parking is both adding and taking from the city value.
However, we heard the announcement in the local media but have no other information about timeframes, objectives, engineering and technical logistics and related risks and benefits to the citizens of Georgetown.
Moreover, if the justification to cover main waterways in the city is to facilitate parking of vehicles because they are being imported at a fast rate in the country, then it has to be said that it is a very simplistic way of looking at an emerging issue that requires more in depth study and general consultations with the people’s representatives and all stakeholders. Covering canals could not be the solution to the problem of parking; it will trigger other challenges.
In 1996, Mayor Hamilton Green proposed a Ring- Road concept. This would have facilitated the use of roadways on the outer limits of the city by heavy duty vehicles and shuttles in the main shopping centres of Georgetown.
Then, in 2001, Professor Akhtar Khan, Chartered Town Planner, submitted the Greater Georgetown Development Plan- 2001 to 2010. It was accepted by the Mayor and City Council. In that plan, Mr Khan spoke to the issue of parking. He suggested, inter alia, re-routing of vehicles, minibus control, waiting restrictions, creation of pedestrian areas, cycling schemes, traffic calming schemes and onsite parking for high rise/ multi-story buildings.
Also, he suggested inner-city linkages and the creation of terminus at various points of the city of Georgetown. Generally, the plan is aimed at facilitating order, efficiency, reduction of greenhouse gases and beauty.
It is very clear that, there needs to be a holistic and comprehensive plan on parking in the capital city of Georgetown. Merely covering city canals, as was proposed, will not “cut it”.
Second, the debate over the balance of costs and benefits of this initiative must be given full space among experts and local citizens. Designing and developing appropriate structures to cover city canals will, no doubt, require massive sums. Would it be better to spend those sums to develop proper parking facilities for vehicles, in more suitable areas, in and beyond the city?
Covered canals have serious financial implications for the Georgetown Municipality. For example, Council will have to remove and replace those covers every time it wants to dredge those channels. Perhaps, this will require special equipment or tools, which, we know, are not in the possession of the Council. Clearly, the Council will have to find additional sums to carry out works in these waterways. If Council is bowing low beneath the current burden to maintain those vital drainage facilities, then exactly what will happen when main city canals are covered for parking?
The other dimension to that is management of the city’s solid and liquid waste.
Some time ago, Council experimented with this very approach to parking on South Street. What we discovered, at that time, was that individuals were removing the covers to dump waste in the canals. This affected the free flow of water through these channels. Eventually, the Council had to remove these covers; that approach did not work.
The recent overtopping in Georgetown gives us a clue of the magnitude of challenge awaiting us with this venture. Imagine plastic, Styrofoam and other non-biodegradable materials under those covers during the coincidence of heavy rains and high tides. The picture that emerges is, to say the least, frighteningly worrying.
Third, historically, the city of Georgetown has been defined by its well laid out system of canals. Therefore, these canals have aesthetic value. Covering those canals will immediately diminish that value and in a way redefine Georgetown as a city. According to the Town Planning Act, the Central Housing and Planning Authority ought to be enhancing those amenities not negatively affecting their values. Critics will argue on the point of our inability to keep those very canals clean. However, that inability is contingent on the lack of resources, of which we will have to divert from other developmental works to clean those waterways when they would have been covered. Again, we can do much better if we are allowed to implement new revenue projects.
We have not even touched on the ecological factors involved and its impact on the natural environment and the general public health of the city, particularly in circumstances where we are experiencing unprecedented environmental events.
The combined existence of the aforementioned factors and the paucity of crucial information have led to our uneasiness and doubt in the plan to cover all of our canals- a significant aspect of our fragile drainage system- in the city. We are not very optimistic that it will in effect assist the extant traffic congestion and parking confusion in the city.
Finally, having regards to our knowledge, expertise, the local culture of the city, the fragility of the city’s drainage system, and our own experiences, might we suggest a comprehensive overview of the issue of parking, exploring other possibilities such as the ones discussed in Professor Khan’s Greater Georgetown Plan.
Royston King
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