THE Ministry of Housing and Water will be collaborating this year with the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and the Sea Defenses Unit, as well as with other major stakeholders to enforce a zero tolerance approach to squatting. According to Minister with the portfolio, Irfaan Ali, this is in keeping with the need to move to structured housing development countrywide.
He said, “We have numbered the existing squatting areas as well as the buildings in those areas; no new squatting will be tolerated; we are going to nip it in the bud and we have commenced that. There is now zero tolerance for squatting.”
Ali made this declaration during a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle, when he outlined some of the dangers of this practice, including impeding drainage, curtailing infrastructural development, negatively affecting real estate values, and posing health and social hazards as well.
In addition, he explained that for those areas that can be regularised, the authority will be moving aggressively to initiate this process, and for those areas which fall under the “zero tolerance’ zone, a relocation plan will be designed.
As to the areas which will be targeted, Minister Ali said, “When we have completed this, we are going to do the relocation exercise. One important area is Plastic City, which had gained a lot of attention from the public. We have completed offering a number of lots to persons in this area, but the people have not moved; some even attempted to sell the lots and some even succeeded in selling.”
Plastic City is located along the shoreline of the Atlantic, just 200 feet past the seawall in Vreed-en-Hoop, on the West Coast Demerara.
A relocation site has already been designated for persons from Plastic City, and a defined time-frame for relocation will be announced, he added.
Legislation
The Housing Minister said that efforts are being made to have the Sunset Legislation completed for squatting, and the draft legislation will be submitted to the Attorney General’s Office.
As for importance of this, he said, “We are hoping to have that laid in parliament so that we can have the legislative mechanism to back the administrative work that we will do, to ensure that in three years, we bring an end to squatting bring an end to the regularisation process and move towards uniform, structured housing development.”
Despite efforts to regularise most of the squatting areas, Minister Ali cautioned that not all of the communities can benefit from this process, and he encouraged residents to take advantage of the relocation process and recognise its benefits.    Several of the areas that fall under the zero tolerance zones, and for which relocation becomes necessary, are Plastic City and Front Road, among others.
“We have been continuously highlighting the dangers of squatting; we now have to move from this stage to removing the dangers, and that is the stage we are at; we will aggressively tackle this problem,” the minister stressed.
Also high on the Housing Ministry’s agenda this year will be the enforcement of conditions and agreements of sale for new schemes, as well as intensifying the repossession drive.