CHIEF Executive Officer (CEO) of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), Sherwyn Greaves, Wednesday morning, led a Ministry team on a fact-finding mission at Phase Four, Fitz Hope, Linden.
The visit was prompted by complaints from contractors regarding halted infrastructure works due to a cluster of squatters.
During the visit, Mr. Greaves highlighted that over four hundred families have been allocated residential lots in the area, with an additional one hundred and sixty families being regularised. However, eight illegal structures are obstructing a key road network, causing significant delays.
“We have people who are waiting to access their lands, and we have contractors who have works to be completed. We cannot have eight persons blocking development,” Mr. Greaves stated emphatically. He further explained that the Ministry will engage with the owners of these structures to resolve the issue swiftly.
The CH&PA is exploring all options to facilitate the relocation of the squatters to enable the continuation of development works. “We want people to be able to move into their homes. We want them to sign their legal documents so they could have the security of tenure, go to the banks, and start building their homes,” Mr. Greaves added.
“Today’s assessment aims to determine whether the contractors can work around the existing structures or if relocation is the only viable option. “We first have to see if we can work around or if they have to move. We will deal with those persons who have those structures and see if we can relocate them and put them somewhere else because we can’t have the work being held up; we must proceed to put people into their homes,” he noted.
Mr. Greaves also took the opportunity to remind Lindeners that the Ministry is committed to working in their best interest. With the growing demand for housing, efforts are being intensified to make land available. “Over the years we have been working in Region 10. As you know, we have a massive project at Plantation York, and we are in talks with Lands and Survey for additional land as we have a target of 50,000 allocations to meet,” he stated.
The CEO reiterated the agency’s commitment to fulfilling its mandate, noting that while they are well on the way to meeting the target with 33,000 allocations made so far, the demand for housing continues to grow. “There is an ever-growing demand for housing, and we will continue our efforts to make housing affordable for every citizen,” he concluded.