– Explores options for secure housing allocations with residents
DEVELOPMENT with a human face has been the mantra of the PPP/C Government through its various arms.
Integral to this development and people empowerment process is the housing sector, which has propelled cataclysmic changes in the lives of poor people in Guyana, with Guyanese who never dreamt of, nor had a hope of ever owning their own homes, currently domiciled under their own roofs, with all the attendant advantages.
However, it has not been all easy sailing because, after decades of governmental and societal decadence, where there was no housing programme, certainly not a housing ministry, poor people in the country have established homesteads in ad hoc, unstructured ways on state reserves and private lands, creating communities in oftentimes disadvantageous and even perilous environments.
In an effort to provide homes for poor persons, Government has created housing schemes countrywide and regulated most squatting areas, save and except those areas which are potentially hazardous to health and life; or which create impediment for the national development drive.
One such area is the Blathylock squatting area in Blairmont, where Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali visited last Tuesday to listen to the concerns of residents, who are being requested to vacate the lands owned by GuySuCo, which is sequestering all its lands for its expansion project in a continuum of effort to keep the vital sugar industry viable and profitable.
Chairman of Region Five, Mr. Harrinarine Baldeo, introduced the panel and explained that he sought ministerial intervention since the engagements between Regional authorities and residents of the squatting area had effectively ground to a halt.  After opening remarks, Minister Ali invited Blairmont Estate Manager, Mr. Yudhisthir Mana, to explain GuySuCo’s position and the context and basis from which Government can attempt to find a solution and break the impasse between GuySuCo and the squatters.
Mr. Mana began by explaining that, for its improvement and expansion plan that is projected to evolve from current time to 2013, GuySuCo requires more capacity and resources because it is striving towards achieving 500 thousand tonnes of sugar for the industry, of which Blairmont Estate is required to produce in excess of 50,000 tonnes.  According to Mr. Mana, Blairmont’s current potential is 45,000 tonnes because the farming land accessible to the estate is 5808.1 hectares
He explained that ninety percent of the estate depends on gravity drainage and through the Blairmont settlement and that the drainage is restricted to a narrow span, necessitating additional drainage that would require another sluice gate, and two pumps to come on stream, along with the one currently in use.
He reminded the residents that the water would be brought downstream and that the estate has to look at other avenues to drain the eleven miles stretch of land that will be used to expand the Blairmont sugarcane production, because the area has twenty-four acres of land.  He explained that there would be a need for double the existent holding capacity and that it is the collecting area to allow a build-up of water so that, when the sluice is open, it lets it out quickly and allows water at the far end to flow down, providing a very effective drainage system.
Encouraging the residents to re-think their position on moving to another location in order to facilitate the Guysuco expansion, Mana said that practically everyone in the community depends on the success of the sugar industry for direct and indirect employment.  He reiterated that the intention behind converting the squatting area into sugarcane production is to increase sugar production as a whole and improve the lives and livelihoods of persons in the community.
Minister Ali told the residents that GuySuCo’s plans have to be integrated into Government’s decision-making process with an overall objective of achieving a compromise that will provide a long-term solution to the greater benefit of all parties.  Alluding to the residents’ request for regularization of the squatters’ settlement, Minister Ali said GuySuCo’s long-term developmental goals have to be given consideration in any discussion of regularization options for the area.
He explained that regularization is not merely establishing boundaries, but that there has to be a process before a determination could be made on the suitability and the practicality of creating a housing settlement, in terms of zoning, environmental considerations, especially with regards to impacts on health.
The Minister said the Government would not agree to regularize an area that has the potential to compromise people’s health or personal development.  He said some situations necessitate a more formalized type of housing settlement.  He urged the residents to think of the options available with an open mind that will provide the best long-term solution for all stakeholders, while promising that the Government will review the situation after conducting assessments and analyses, at the same time reminding residents that GuySuCo has the final say on the final solution.
In an overview and drawing a verbal picture of the immensity of the regularization programme the Government has undertaken, Minister Ali informed that there initially existed 216 squatter settlements across the country, of which 122 have already been regularized, with 43 currently in the processing phase.  He said the remaining 51 squatter settlements cannot be regularized because they are on “zero tolerance” status, meaning that they are sited on areas that impede national developmental initiatives, hinder sea defence and D & I works, and that some are even located in cemeteries.  He said that in the last ten years more than 200,000 lots have been regularized, creating homes for in excess of 220,000 persons.
He said that, for those who were willing to move, his Ministry would fast-track formalities to access house lots at Bath and Zoorg-en-Hoop Housing Schemes, both in proximity to the estate.
Against that background, Minister Ali invited comments from the residents, all of whom initially expressed reluctance to even consider moving to another location.  One resident said that a member of a small opposition political party had advised that they should not move because, having lived on the GuySuCo land for twenty years gives them the rights to the property.
However, while some remained adamant based on that advice, others expressed interest in accessing their own plots of land in the two housing schemes, but were concerned, especially in view of the sixteen weeks out-of-crop period they were experiencing, that they could not pay for the lots, nor for the removal and rebuilding of their homes in the new locations; but Minister Ali allayed their fears, promising that Government and GuySuCo would collaborate in finding solutions to these potential impediments to their relocation.
He outlined all the advantages having their own house lots would provide, including using the transport as collateral to access loans and establish businesses, and not least the provision of a solution to their current problem of having no electricity and being flood-prone.
Minister Ali explained that part of the regularization is a discussion between all parties on the various options available, and that he had no intention of misleading anyone by promising that the area would be regularized.  The Housing Minister said he visited the area to assess the situation, listen to the concerns of residents, explain the process, together with the residents explore the options, then work out a schedule for his team to make analytic assessments in order to determine, first of all, whether the area can be regularized, which would fi
rst require GuySuCo agreeing to hand over the lands on a legal basis.
He said that, once the field teams decide that the area can be regularized, then the Ministry would do everything in its power to have it done.  If not, together, the Ministry and the people would have to decide on the best options to create comfortable and permanent homes which would best suit their needs, because it is not his intention to unilaterally impose any solutions on anyone.
Explaining the context of the Government’s housing programme, Minister Alli reminded residents that there was no housing programme, nor a housing ministry, with not a single dollar budgeted for housing, and that is what has created bottlenecks with titles and transports, although persons have lived on lands for decades.  He recalled that, since 1992, the Government has worked aggressively, not only to regularize settlements, or to issue titles and transports, but also to develop new housing schemes and maximize house lots.
He said the volume of applicants continues to increase, citing Region 4, which currently has over 30,000 new applications being processed, despite the fact that more than 89,000 new house lots have already been created, with in excess of $470 million spent between 2005 to 2009 alone to create more than 3,000 house lots.
At the end of the meeting many of the residents were displaying overt interest in accessing a house lot and removing from the flood-prone, problem-prone squatter settlement, once they could receive assistance in the removal process, and assurance that their general concerns such as transportation for themselves and their children would be addressed.