HOUSING and Water Minister, Collin Croal and Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), Sherwyn Greaves, on Wednesday, visited squatters in Cummings Lodge, who are being relocated to pave the way for the development of the area into a housing scheme.

In a statement issued by the ministry, it was noted that 11 squatters are currently occupying the Plot 1767 and 1768 of Cummings Lodge and are being relocated to another area within the vicinity. The squatters were served their final contravention notices on Saturday and will be provided with assistance to move, the statement said.

The contravention notices served requires the informal settlers to be removed by Saturday, April 10. The illegal activity will severely hamper development of the area which has been earmarked for a new housing project. The project is expected to deliver 190 low income homes for families, the statement said. The ministry has been engaging with the squatters since August 2020.

“We have been working with persons squatting in this area since August last year and a number of unoccupied structures have been demolished since then. However, the 11 structures remaining are those that were found to have occupants. They were served notices to remove and we have had our Community Development Department working with them,” Minister Croal said.

Thirteen contravention notices were said to have been served on 13 structures observed by the CH&PA on an initial visit on August 20, 2020. However, on a subsequent visit on August 27, 2020, some 22 structures were observed.

A demolition exercise of the unoccupied structures was subsequently executed on October 13, 2020, leaving the current 11 occupied structures. A number of Call in Notices were served and six of the informal settlers have since approached CH&PA.

The minister highlighted Government’s commitment to providing housing for all Guyanese, as he outlined the ministry’s approach. Based on interaction with the squatters, eight have applications within the CH&PA system while another three are in the process of formally applying to facilitate the relocation process.

On their visit to the squatters, Minister Croal and Greaves were accompanied by Permanent Secretary, Andre Ally, and officials from the ministry’s Community Development, Projects and Enforcement Departments.

Also present was a high-level team from the Guyana Police Force including Senior Superintendent of Police Calvin Brutus; Deputy Commissioner (ag), Clifton Hicken and Regional Commander of “4A” Division, Simon Mc Bean.

The minister noted that the enhanced security in the area was needed, given the magnitude of the development. Discussions with the officials have pointed to an outpost being placed towards the Aubrey Barker end of the project.