The Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) on Tuesday afternoon erected barricades to the entrance of the Muneshwers wharf in Georgetown, preventing container trucks from entering or leaving unless a fee of $25,000 is paid to the Council.

The exercise by the M&CC is being carried out one week after the Council issued a notice in which it said that a unanimous decision had been taken to implement a $25,000 fee for the operation of storage containers within the city.

Assistant Town Clerk Sherry Jerrick spoke to the media and said that the Council was invoking Section 237 and 274 of its bylaws with respect to the use of its roadways by vehicles of a “certain weight”.

She assured that the exercise was legal and that there were adequate provision in the bylaws to prevent persons from driving certain vehicles along the roadway.

She said the Council is asking for the $25,000 fee per container and explained that the fee application was based on provisions in the Municipal and District Council Act.

But the managers at the wharf said they were unaware of the exercise and had no engagement with Council officials.

“They didn’t say anything. They just came and put barricades and we cant move… no body told us anything and no traffic is allowed out,” Robin Muneshwer told the media.

He said he would be seeking explanations but was unsure of the conditions under which the vehicles would be allowed onto the roadway.

The Mayor and City Councilor had said that business persons and other container operators have been accessing city streets and other public spaces with those storage containers free of cost.

In some instances the containers are left parked in public spaces for long periods, adding to the congestion situation.

The Council had said previously that container users will pay $25,000 to have the storage device parked for 72 hours.

Only last week a Magistrate threw out charges against businesspersons for failure to pay the $25,000 fee.

Jerrick said the Council’s Attorneys were dealing with that matter.

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