Minister Persaud charges City Council with lacking will
MINISTER of Local Government and Regional Development, Ganga Persaud said, Monday, that the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown should be the entity to take the lead in the removal of squatters along the West Ruimveldt Front Road. He acknowledged, though, that the responsibility is not solely that of the municipality and that authorities have, long, been talking about such action.
Persaud observed that the street is extremely narrow and complications arise when rain falls and water reaches the two sides.
When that happens, the roadway becomes even narrower for pedestrians and, to make matters worse, it is a two-way thoroughfare for traffic.
Asked about the situation earlier this week, one City Hall official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the squatting issue is not likely to be resolved anytime soon.
He pointed out that Mayor Hamilton Green, during the days of the Burnham Government, is the one who gave permission for people to squat on the Front Road.
“How can he now go and ask them to move?” the official pondered, adding that the Mayor continues to “hamstring” the entire Council, wielding his powers and protecting only certain officers.
Meanwhile, Minister Persaud, speaking at a Monday press conference, said there is a lack of will by the Council to enforce the by-laws.

Housing drive
He observed that the Government’s housing drive has been so enormous that in excess of 100,000 house lots were issued.
“That would have provided an enabling environment for the municipality to enforce its by-laws and have a no-tolerance to squatting. But it is like a wish. Never happened,” the minister offered.
“The Council continues to lapse and lapse very seriously with regards to its enforcement, although it has more enforcement officers in its employ than any other local government entity across this country,” Persaud stated.
He said the Ministries of Housing and Public Works, along with his ministry, continue to look at what can be done about removing the squatters.
“And we’re hoping that, before the end of 2012, a resolution would have surfaced, sufficient enough to have caused the complete restoration of that area (Front Road) without the presence of squatters. These things are happening too often.
“The city by-laws are not being enforced and it’s sad every time I have to make this statement. But one wonders what more can be done. The sole custody of the by-laws rests with the city. If the drive, the commitment and the will are not there by the city, then the other entities can be accused of acting outside of their ambit. I hope that the powers that be, at the municipality, will hear and resolve the problem,” Minister Persaud said.
Earlier this year, Housing Minister, Irfaan Ali told this newspaper, in an interview, that the ministry will be working to enforce a zero tolerance approach to squatting.
“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,” he said, noting that among the dangers of this practice are impeded drainage, curtailed infrastructural development, a negative effect on real estate values, health risks and social hazards.

Relocation plan
He explained that, for those areas that can be regularised, the authorities 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.
“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,” Ali informed.
Plastic City is located along the shoreline of the Atlantic, just 200 feet past the seawall in Vreed-en-Hoop, on the West Coast of Demerara.
“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,” Ali had said.