Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali said the ministry will work towards the complete elimination of illegal squatter settlements across the country come 2012, as he rolled out a massive plan that details how his team will tackle the phenomenon.
Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali
At the ministry’s year-end media briefing, Ali said that government will explore all of the available avenues in a bid to resolve the issue once and for all. He asserted that while significant gains have already been made in the areas of squatter settlement regularisation and relocation, there is still more work to be done.
“We will be working aggressively, and we have a plan to end this illegal practice across the country…. in instances where the settlements could be regularised, we will work with the residents to have this done… in some other instances, residents will need to be relocated and given land elsewhere; this would also be done”, Ali explained.
The minister reiterated government’s concern over squatting which seems to be becoming a norm. However, he explained that his ministry’s intention is not to displace Guyanese, but rather have them follow the laws and live within the confines of safe and appropriate housing development areas and infrastructure.
He said that his ministry would be devising “sunset legislation” that would seek to further criminalise the act of squatting and make it more difficult for persons to occupy state lands, government reserves, drainage and irrigation reserves, and other zero tolerance areas.
“The idea is to send a clear message that we are serious, and further, make it very difficult for the continued emergence of these squatter settlements across the country,” the housing minister said.
Questioned as to the practicality of the three-year timeline that the ministry has set for the achievement of this task, since there are still more than 30 squatter settlements, Ali said that the goals set were very attainable and realistic within the period. He said that persons may have been pessimistic at the outset about the general targets that government would have set over the years, but all of these were attained, especially in the housing sector.
Will get it done
“It’s not impossible and we have a plan and programme to get it done,” Ali noted with a smile. He said that the process for acquiring a house lot was now more transparent and equitable than ever in the history of the country. He boasted that the ministry, under the PPP/ C government, has done more than the previous regime to resolve the issues of the emergence of squatter settlements.
Plans are in train according to the minister to meet with the persons who have been squatting on government reserves and in “Container city” near the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
Meanwhile, the Housing Ministry accomplished a remarkable performance in 2011 as it surpassed its target by 40 per cent, with respect to house lot allocation.
“We had an estimate of 6500 house lots to be allocated this year, but at this time (year-end) we have allocated more than 8981. This represents a 40 per cent increase and the staff at the Housing Ministry and the Central Housing and Planning Authority must be commended,” Ali reported.
