GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The Guyana government says it will adopt a zero tolerance approach to squatting.
Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali says this is in keeping with the need to move to structured housing development countrywide and that his ministry is collaborating with the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and other stakeholders to enforce the 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. There is now zero tolerance for squatting,” Ali told the state-owned Guyana Chronicle newspaper.
Ali outlined some of the dangers of illegal squatting practice, including impeding drainage, curtailing infrastructural development, negatively affecting real estate values, and posing health and social hazards as well.
He said that for those areas that can be regularised, the authority 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.”
Plastic City is located along the shoreline of the Atlantic, just 200 feet past the seawall in Vreed-en-Hoop, on the West Coast Demerara.
A relocation site has already been designated for persons from Plastic City, and a defined time-frame for relocation will be announced, Ali said.
The Housing Minister said that efforts were being made to have the Sunset Legislation completed for squatting, and the draft legislation will be submitted to the Attorney General’s Office. (CMC)
