L.R.O. 1/2012
LAWS OF GUYANA
SEA DEFENCES ACT
CHAPTER 64:01
Act
2 of 1883
Amended by
6 of 1899 10 of 1919 23 of 1899 28 of 1940 15 of 1906 15 of 1975 18 of 1907 7 of 1988 9 of 1913 30 of 1992 3 of 1914 8 of 1917
10 of 1918

1 – 17 ... 1/2012
(inclusive) by L.R.O.
Pages Authorised
Current Authorised Pages
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Index
of
Subsidiary Legislation

This Chapter contains no subsidiary legislation.





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CHAPTER 64:01
SEA DEFENCES ACT
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
SECTION
1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.
SUPERVISION OF DEFENCES
3. Inspection of plantation dams.
4. Execution of necessary work by proprietor.
WORKS OF DEFENCE
5. Procedure on requisition to execute work.
6. Default in commencing works.
7. No alteration in line of dam without permission of Minister.
8. Power to proprietor to raise money for protection from water.
9. Where calamity occurs to an estate.
10. Execution of works for protection of a district.
11. Decision as to works to be executed and apportionment of costs
thereof.
12. Power to take material for execution of works.
PROTECTION OF FORESHORE
13. Regulations for the protection of foreshore.
14. Prohibition of acts endangering foreshore.
15. Notice board on foreshore forbidding damage.
16. Acts for protection of a foreshore.
APPEALS
17. Appeal from requirement of Chief Officer.

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SECTION
LOANS FOR WORKS
18. Repayment of loan for execution of works.
19. Preferent lien for the amount of loan.
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
20. Service of notices.
21. Proof of order of Minister.
22. Execution of works by Chief Officer.
23. Limitation of right of action to certain public officers.
24. Obstruction of officer acting under the Act.
25. Damaging defences.
26. General penalty.
27. Operation of Act.
__________________________ 1929 Ed.
c. 118
1953 ed.
c. 190 _______________________________________________________
2 of 1883 An Act to secure the Maintenance of the Sea, River, and
Outer Dams of Estates.
[9th JUNE, 1883]
Short title.

Interpretation.
[15 of 1975]
7 of 1988
30 of 1992[
1. This Act may be cited as the Sea Defences Act.
2. In this Act—
“the Chief Officer” means the Chief Hydraulics Officer
and includes anyone performing the duties of the
holder of that office;
CHAPTER 64:01
SEA DEFENCES ACT

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“estate” includes any plantation or estate, or any piece of
land abutting on or near the sea shore, or any river
or creek, or the bank of a river or creek;
“the Hydraulics Division” means the Hydraulics
Division of the Ministry and includes the Chief
Officer, every officer of the Hydraulics Division and
everyone employed by the Chief Officer or by any
officer of the Hydraulics Division;
“the time limited” means the time mentioned in any
notice given by the Chief Officer within which the
proprietor of an estate is required to complete any
works, and, where there is an appeal, means the time
fixed by the Minister;
“works” means any work for repairing, strengthening,
heightening, or protecting any existing dam, and
includes—
(a) any work for constructing or
protecting a new dam; and
(b) groynes and construction of any
material and every description of
work or arrangement intended to
protect an estate or any land from
submersion or flooding; and
(c) the removal of anything which, in
the opinion of the Chief Officer,
ought to be removed for the
protection or conservation of the
foreshore.

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Inspection of
plantation
dams.
Execution of
necessary work by
proprietor.
Procedure on
requisition to
execute work.

SUPERVISION OF DEFENCES
3. The Chief Officer and everyone authorised by
him in writing may at all times enter on any estate and
inspect the sea, river, and outer dams thereof.
4. (1) When the Chief Officer is of opinion that
any sea, river, or outer dam of an estate is in bad order or
insufficient, or is improperly constructed, either as
regards position or material, or is not sufficiently
protected, he may require the proprietor of the estate to
execute any work he considers ought to be executed.
(2) When the dam has been completed,
whether in obedience to an order of the Chief Officer or
otherwise, he may serve a notice on the proprietor of the
estate, as hereinafter provided, requiring him from time
to time to execute any works necessary for the
maintenance of the dam in good order.
5. (1) When the Chief Officer requires the
proprietor of an estate to execute works he shall cause a
notice in writing signed by him and addressed to the
proprietor of the estate, without naming the proprietor,
to be served on the proprietor.
(2) The notice shall state shortly the nature
and description of the works to be executed and, save in
the case of a notice to maintain a dam under subsection
(2) of the last preceding section, the time within which
they shall be executed.
(3) The notice shall, save in the case of a notice
to maintain a dam as aforesaid, also state the estimated
cost of executing the works set forth in the notice.
6. (1) Where the proprietor of an estate fails commencing works. Default in
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No alteration in line
of dam without
permission of
Minister.
within the time limited to commence the execution of the
works or any of them so required as aforesaid, or, in the
case of works required to be done under section 4(2),
where he fails to execute them when and as soon as they
become necessary, the Chief Officer shall apply to the
Minister for directions and the Minister may make any
order on the application the circumstances require.
(2) The Hydraulics Division shall execute any
works the Minister directs.
7. (1) No deviation from the existing line of a sea,
river, front, or outer dam of an estate shall be made
unless the permission of the Minister has been first
obtained, and the Minister may refuse the permission or
attach thereto any terms or conditions to him seeming
expedient.
(2) If any deviation aforesaid is attempted
without first obtaining the permission, the Attorney-
General shall be entitled to obtain, on motion ex parte, an
order prohibiting the attempt and requiring the removal
of any work already begun or executed in contravention
of this section.
(3) In the event of non-compliance by anyone
with any of the terms or conditions attached to any
permission aforesaid, the Attorney- General may obtain,
on motion ex parte, from the High Court in its civil
jurisdiction an order to enforce compliance.
(4) No power ad litem shall be necessary in any
proceeding under this section.
(5) The proprietor of an estate shall be
deemed to have attempted to deviate from the line of an
existing outer dam, within the meaning of this section, if
he constructs or begins to construct a dam intended, in
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Power to proprietor
to raise money for
protection from
water.
Where calamity
occurs to an estate.

Execution of works
for protection of a
district.
7 of 1988
30 of 1992]
the opinion of the Chief Officer, ultimately to be used as
an outer dam.
8. (1) The proprietor of any right or interest in an
estate who desires to secure the estate in which he is
interested from inroads of the sea or of a river or creek, or
from being flooded by water, may apply by petition to
the Minister either for an advance by way of loan to
defray the expense of any necessary permanent
works, or for an order authorising the Hydraulics
Division to execute the permanent works and charging
the cost thereof on the estate.
(2) Where Parliament provides the funds
wherefrom the advance is made or cost defrayed, the
Minister may grant the application aforesaid on any
terms and conditions to him seeming meet.
9. Where an occurrence whereby an estate is in
danger of being or is submerged or flooded takes place
and is, in the opinion of the Minister, a calamity which it
is expedient in the public interest to remedy or mitigate,
he may, if Parliament provides the necessary funds, grant
thereout to the proprietor of the estate so situated any
sum of money to the Minister seeming meet, and the sum
shall be expended, under the supervision of the
Hydraulics Division, in the execution of the works
directed by the Minister.
10. Where in order to protect the foreshore of a
district the Minister or the Chief Officer deems it
expedient to execute works that are intended for the
protection of more than one estate or of any district, the
following regulations shall be observed:
(a) the Hydraulics Division shall
prepare plans and specifications
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of the proposed works together
with an estimate of their cost;
(b) the Hydraulics Division shall also
prepare a statement showing the
estates, and any railway, canal,
building, or immovable property
of any kind not a plantation,
which it is proposed shall be
made liable to contribute to the
cost of the execution or
maintenance of any of the
works and the proportion or
manner in which it is proposed to
assess the amount to be paid by
each of those estates and any
railway, canal, building, or
immovable property of any kind,
not a plantation;
(c) a copy of the documents and
plans hereinbefore in this section
required to be prepared shall be
kept at the office of the
Hydraulics Division in
Georgetown and, if any portion
of the district is in the county of
Berbice, another copy shall be
lodged at the office of the
department in New Amsterdam;
(d) a notice containing a short
description of the nature and
position of the proposed works,
the amount of the total estimated
cost, and the names of the
estates; and any railway, canal,
building, or immovable property
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of any kind not being a
plantation, which it is proposed
shall be made liable, and an
intimation that the documents
and plans have been lodged and
are open for inspection, shall be
given by publication in the
Gazette and at least one other
newspaper published in Guyana;
(e) the documents and plans shall
remain open for the inspection of
everyone wishing to see them on
every day (not a public holiday)
during office hours for one
month after the date of the first
publication of the notice;
(f) anyone who objects to the
execution of any of the proposed
works, or to the proportion or
manner in which it is proposed to
assess an estate wherein he is
interested shall, within the
period of one month aforesaid,
lodge in the Hydraulics Division
his objections in writing and
the grounds on which he bases
them; and
(g) after the expiration of the period
of one month the Hydraulics
Division shall transmit the
documents and plans and the
objections (if any) with a full
report thereon to the Minister.

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Decision as to works
to be executed and
apportionment of
costs thereof.

Power to take
material for
execution of works.

Regulations for the
protection of
foreshore. [30 of 1992
6 of 1997]
11. The Minister, after considering the
expediency of executing the proposed works mentioned
in the last preceding section, with all the objections
thereto and after hearing, if he considers it necessary to
do so, any of those interested may make any order to him
seeming meet and, if Parliament provides the necessary
funds, may direct that any works be executed for the
protection of the foreshore to him appearing proper, and
may order and direct that the cost of the execution and
maintenance thereof shall be repayable by the
proprietors of the estate situate in the district intended to
be protected in the proportions and the manner the
Minister thinks fit.
12. (1) Where the Hydraulics Division executes
any works under this Act for the protection of an estate,
the Division may dig earth, cut wood, and take material
of every kind from or on the plantation necessary for any
of the works.
(2) If any material is taken by the Division and
the proprietor of the estate or his authorised agent objects
to the material being taken or objects to the place from or
the manner in which any of the material is being taken,
he may apply to the Chief Officer for that officer’s
personal directions, and the Chief Officer shall have full
power to give any directions the exigencies of the case
appear to him to require.
PROTECTION OF FORESHORE
13. (1) Subject to affirmative resolution of the
National Assembly, the Minister may make regulations
for all or any of the following purposes, that is to say,
for—
(a) protecting the growth of
underwood, shrubs, and trees, on
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Prohibition of acts
endangering
foreshore.

Notice board on
foreshore forbidding
damage.
or near the foreshore or between
high and low water marks;
(b) the protection of the land and soil
between high and low water
marks; and
(c) generally, conserving the fore-
shore.
(2) The regulations may apply to the whole or
any part of Guyana.
(3) There may be annexed to the breach of any
of the regulations a penalty not exceeding thirty
thousand dollars and such penalty shall be recoverable
under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts.
14. The proprietor of an estate shall not, if the
Chief Officer deems it necessary for the protection of a
foreshore and gives him notice to abstain from so
doing—
(a) cut, or allow to be cut, any courida
or other trees, or any underwood
or shrubs, growing on either side
of any sea-, river-, or outer dam
of his estate; or
(b) remove, or allow to be removed,
from the foreshore of his estate
any shell, sand, soil, or other
material, or any dead trees,
shrubs, or other debris.
15. (1) When the Chief Officer gives notice to the
proprietor of an estate under the last preceding section to
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[30 of 1992
6 of 1997]
Acts for protection
of a foreshore.
[28 of 1940].
abstain from doing any of the acts specified in that
section, the proprietor shall, within seven days from the
receipt of the notice, cause notice boards to be erected at
not less than two places on the foreshore of his estate
stating that those acts are forbidden.
(2) Anyone who—
(a) cuts any courida or other
trees, or any underwood or
shrubs, growing on either
side of any sea-, river-, or
outer dam on any estate; or
(b) removes any shell, soil, or
other material, or any dead
trees, shrubs, or other
debris from any estate,
upon the foreshore whereof is erected a notice board
stating that the doing of any act aforesaid is forbidden,
shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of twelve
thousand dollars.
16. Every proprietor of an estate shall, if the
Chief Officer for the protection of a foreshore gives him
notice to do so—
(a) execute all works deemed
necessary by the Chief Officer
and approved by the Minister for
retaining, between high and low
water marks on the foreshore of
his estate, any bank of sand, shell,
mud, or other substance;
(b) take any steps, by sowing seed,
planting shoots, or otherwise,
that the Chief Officer deems
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Appeal from
requirement of Chief
Officer.
Repayment of loan
for execution of
works.
necessary to promote the growth
of courida or other trees,
underwood, or shrubs, between
high and low water marks on the
foreshore of his estate;
(c) remove any dead trees, shrubs,
or other debris from the
foreshore of his estate;
(d) subject to section 14, excavate
and remove from the foreshore of
his estate all stumps of courida or
other trees which he fells or
permits to be felled after the 1st
January, 1941.
APPEALS
17. (1) Everyone aggrieved by any requirement
of the Chief Officer or any action of the Hydraulics
Division under this Act, or who considers that the time
limited in any notice for the commencement or
completion of any works is too short, may appeal by way
of petition to the Minister.
(2) The order of the Minister on the petition
shall be final and binding on all persons interested.
LOANS FOR WORKS
18. (1) The Minister may direct that any money
advanced by way of loan or expended in the execution of
any works under this Act shall be repaid in the manner,
at the times, by the instalments, and with interest at the
rate deemed expedient by the Minister.
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Preferent lien
for the amount of
loan.
(2) Where the cost of any works executed by
the Hydraulics Division under this Act exceeds the
estimated cost by more than one- third thereof, the
Minister, if he deems it expedient to do so and if
Parliament provides the necessary funds, may direct that
the amount expended in excess of the amount of the
estimated costs and one-third added shall be paid out of
those funds.
19. (1) All money advanced by way of loan, and
all moneys expended by the Ministry, under this Act,
other than grants made under section 9, shall be deemed
a debt due to the State, and for the repayment thereof the
State shall have a preferent lien on the estate after debts
due to the State, and the lien shall continue
notwithstanding any devolution or transport of that
estate.
(2) All the moneys aforesaid may be
recovered by parate execution at the instance of the
Accountant General against the proprietor of the estate
without naming him.
(3) When a sum is repayable by instalments,
on the failure to pay any instalment or interest within ten
days after it becomes due, the whole amount then
remaining unpaid with the interest thereon shall
immediately become due and payable.
(4) A certificate signed by the Accountant
General that a specified amount is due under this Act
from the proprietor of the estate shall, without any proof
of the signature, be received in all courts as proof of the
fact until the contrary is proved.

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Service of notices.


Proof of order of
Minister.
Execution of works
by
Chief Officer.
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
20. (1) Any notice required to be given or served
under this Act may be given or served by handing it to
the owner of the estate to which it refers, or to his agent
or representative or the person in charge of that estate,
or, if the owner, or his agent or representative, or the
person aforesaid, cannot be found, by affixing the notice
to the principal building on the estate or, if there be no
building thereon, then to some tree or other conspicuous
object thereon.
(2) A declaration made before a justice of the
peace by the person serving the notice endorsed on a
duplicate or copy thereof that the notice was duly served
and stating the mode of service shall be deemed in all
courts of justice to be prima facie evidence that the notice
was duly given and served.
21. The production of a copy of an order or
direction of the Minister, certified as a correct copy by the
Permanent Secretary, or the production of the Gazette
containing the official intimation of an order or direction
of the Minister under this Act, shall be conclusive proof
of that order or direction having been made or given and
that it was in all respects rightly made or given and is
binding upon all persons.
22. Any work or thing which the proprietor of an
estate is required under this Act to execute or do, if he
refuses or neglects to execute or do it within the time
specified in the notice given by the Chief Officer, may be
executed and done by that officer, who shall therefor
have the powers conferred by section 12, and section 19
shall apply to the cost of any work or thing so executed
or done by him.

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Limitation of
right of action to
certain public
officers.
[ 7 of 1988
30 of 1992 ]

Obstruction of
officer acting
under
the Act.
[30 of 1992
6 of 1997]
Damaging defences.
[30 of 1992
6 of 1997]

General penalty.
[30 of 1992
6 of 1997]
Operation of
Act.
23. (1) No one other than the officers of
government hereinbefore mentioned shall have any right
of action for anything done, or in respect of anything
omitted to be done which might or ought to have been
done, under this Act.
(2) Anyone who desires the Chief Officer to
take any action under this Act shall apply by petition to
the Minister.
24. Everyone who wilfully obstructs any member
of the Hydraulics Division acting under this Act shall be
liable to a fine of twenty-two thousand five hundred
dollars.

25. Everyone who—
(a) wilfully damages any dam or
defence against the sea or any
water; or
(b) unlawfully takes for his own
benefit any of the material of a
dam or defence,
shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of thirty
thousand dollars or to imprisonment for two months.
26. Everyone who infringes any of the provisions
of this Act shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine
of twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars.
27. This Act shall be in force throughout Guyana
subject to the special provisions of any Act for the time
being in force affecting any specific part thereof.
______________