The Ministry of Public Works yesterday said it is extremely disturbed and disappointed by what it said was the “barefaced actions” of squatters who continue to clear lands vested to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
The Ministry and squatters around the airport have had numerous standoffs in recent years. While the ministry has said that squatters have to remove to permit the CJIA expansion programme, some of the settlers in the area have said that they had been permitted to occupy lands there and had invested heavily. They are seeking compensation among other things to move.
Yesterday, the Ministry said that despite repeated warnings by the Police, squatters are continuing to clear and burn sections of lands to build structures and farm.
It said that on Thursday, CJIA staff and police stumbled upon renewed activity in Timehri North, in the vicinity of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Ammo Dump and the Non-Directional Beacon. The ministry said that the squatters were warned to discontinue their actions.
“The Ministry cannot condone squatting on lands allocated for the expansion of the (CJIA) – the country’s main port of entry for international travelers.
‘Cease and desist’ signs will be erected in the area shortly. Law enforcement officers will arrest and charge anyone who breaches the order”, the ministry warned.
It added that the Ministry and the Airport Authority, since 2008, have held meetings and conducted one-on-one conversations with squatters on relocation options, the airport expansion and the health and safety risks of living close to the Airport.
The Ministry said that efforts have been made to encourage squatters to apply to the Lands and Surveys Commission for suitable alternative lands; however, many still refuse to take up the offer.
The airport expansion is crucial to Guyana’s development, and the Ministry said that it and the CJIA remain committed to the project.
The MPW said it wonders what has stimulated the resumption of squatting on Airport and Public Lands earmarked for a critical national development project.
It said that helping squatters relocate to suitable areas to ensure their source of livelihood is sustained is also high on the Ministry’s list of priorities.
In December last year, Timehri North residents told Stabroek News that they were continuing to face demands to relocate, although there was still no word from authorities about where they were expected to go or compensation for crops that have been destroyed due to the works for the Cheddi Jagan Airport expansion.
“They issuing letters and scaring us,” resident Royston Holder had said.
Holder explained that the latest letter stated that they were being given 14 days to dismantle their homes and relocate. He said nobody was saying where they should relocate to.
Holder is among about 1,500 persons, many of them farmers, with homes in the area and who have been at an impasse with authorities on their relocation since the start of the project two years ago.
At a press conference in the area in December last year, APNU MP Joseph Harmon called for government to make a full disclosure to the people about the state of the expansion project, including whether it was adhering to international standards for the relocation of residents.
Since the start of preparatory works for the expansion project, residents have complained about farmlands being bulldozed without notice.
