GOVERNMENT IS appealing to land owners to exercise more sensitivity in the aftermath of disasters – or else.
Minister of Home Affairs Adriel Brathwaite said some landlords were using the opportunity to kick people off their land following Tropical Storm Tomas.
“There are areas where landlords have simply said ‘no I will not give you permission to build a house here’.” He said in other cases family members had refused to give other family members permission to rebuild on land they had been on “for years”.
“We have to look and see how legislatively we can ensure this doesn’t happen again. We are going to give this some serious attention because we are concerned that if we have an even greater event than Tomas, we may end up with hundreds of persons being dislocated because of landowners,” the minister said.
He was speaking during a tour of houses in the $37 million Tropical Storm Tomas Housing Rehabilitation Project yesterday. The tour covered areas of St Michael, Christ Church, St Philip, St Andrew, St James and St Lucy.
Minister of Housing and Lands Michael Lashley said Government was seeking an alternative to compulsorily acquiring land.
“We have to look at some way of negotiating with the landowners. I don’t believe we should use the Acquisition Act to acquire the land. We could probably have a fair exchange in terms of another piece of land or monetary compensation,” he said.
As for the project, Brathwaite said he anticipated around 1 000 homes would be included and asked for the public’s patience.
“Much as we would like to get everything completed immediately, the reality is the level of the damage was a bit wider than we anticipated.
“There are about 500 cases that we have on the radar but we reckon there are going to be at least another 500 that we are going to have to touch,” he said.
Brathwaite said obstacles such as land disputes and land slippage were some of the challenges to the work, but added that they would be tapping into the resources of the Ministry of Housing and Lands.
Lashley said there were lots available in St John, St Joseph, Christ Church and St George for those who suffered as a result of any dislocation due to landlords.
He said he was happy with the work of both the Rural Development Commission and Urban Development Commission, adding they would have to find a way to address the cases of bad workmanship they came across.
Please also see Page 17 of today’s SATURDAY SUN.