THE Ministry of Housing and Water has, so far, been able to regularise approximately 190 of the 280 squatting communities in the country, Minister with the portfolio, Mr. Irfaan Ali disclosed on Friday. He made the disclosure to the media at the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, South Road, Georgetown, following the launch of the handbook ‘Guyana, where and what’.
According to Ali, since 1992 when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) was elected to government, there has been a huge problem with squatting.
He said the Ministry is currently in the process of regularising 30 more areas and it is hoped to complete the exercise by the end of 2013.
Ali acknowledged that one of the difficulties the Ministry has faced is the regularisation of those communities which are classified as being in the zero tolerance zones, areas that cannot be regularised.
According to him, the persons in those locations were already offered a relocation plan and, in some instances, the Ministry has also relocated house lots.
He indicated that some persons would have moved to where they were allocated lots or taken ones that are still in the squatting locations.
Ali said, sometimes, the Ministry has to use different levels of intervention and he admitted that one of the places where they have experienced difficulty is Plastic City on West Demerara.
He said the Ministry is hoping that, within the next two years, it can have a comprehensive relocation plan and remove persons from the zero tolerance areas.