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THE squatters lining the West Ruimveldt Front Road “will have to go” as far as the plans for widening that thoroughfare are concerned.
And there could very well be some justification for authorities to be coercive in having them removed, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) Dr. Roger Luncheon said last week, at his usual post-Cabinet media briefing, at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, also in Georgetown. He continued: “I’m pretty certain that the Central Housing and Planning Authority, in conjunction with the municipality, has been doing the rather conventional thing to allocate house lots elsewhere and to provide the opportunity for those long term squatters to move. Successes have occurred. Many of them have accepted house lots and have moved.”
But, acknowledging that the work is not yet completed, he said: “I don’t have a problem in saying that there could very well be some justification for being coercive when particularly rehabilitation of the Front Road is being done. On the plans of the widening of that road, they will have to go.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Ganga Persaud observed, recently, that the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) should be the entity to take the lead in the removal of squatters along the Front Road.
He agreed that the responsibility is not solely that of the municipality and that authorities have, long, been talking about such action although the M&CC has shown a lack of will to enforce the by-laws.
ENORMOUS
Persaud pointed out 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,” he remarked.
“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,” he said.
Earlier this year, Housing Minister Irfaan Ali told the Guyana Chronicle 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 in this practice are impeded drainage, curtailed infrastructural development, a negative effect on real estate values, health risks and social hazards.
“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 said.
And there could very well be some justification for authorities to be coercive in having them removed, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) Dr. Roger Luncheon said last week, at his usual post-Cabinet media briefing, at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, also in Georgetown. He continued: “I’m pretty certain that the Central Housing and Planning Authority, in conjunction with the municipality, has been doing the rather conventional thing to allocate house lots elsewhere and to provide the opportunity for those long term squatters to move. Successes have occurred. Many of them have accepted house lots and have moved.”
But, acknowledging that the work is not yet completed, he said: “I don’t have a problem in saying that there could very well be some justification for being coercive when particularly rehabilitation of the Front Road is being done. On the plans of the widening of that road, they will have to go.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Ganga Persaud observed, recently, that the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) should be the entity to take the lead in the removal of squatters along the Front Road.
He agreed that the responsibility is not solely that of the municipality and that authorities have, long, been talking about such action although the M&CC has shown a lack of will to enforce the by-laws.
ENORMOUS
Persaud pointed out 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,” he remarked.
“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,” he said.
Earlier this year, Housing Minister Irfaan Ali told the Guyana Chronicle 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 in this practice are impeded drainage, curtailed infrastructural development, a negative effect on real estate values, health risks and social hazards.
“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 said.
