Emphasising that they have to move, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill on Tuesday afternoon told Albouystown residents who have illegal structures on the government reserve in the area that assistance would be considered to help them relocate.
“I am not offering anybody no money, nothing as an inducement to move, fair enough. The human factor is that people were living there because they did not have any land, nowhere to go, now, you apply for your place to move, and there are factors in moving and when that time comes, you have to move. I am not offering anybody inducement to move, but if there is assistance that is required, whether it is the truck or workmen to move the material and be re-erected wherever, we will try to see what can be accommodated,” Edghill said, according to a statement issued by the ministry.
The statement explained that Edghill invited the residents, who are in the path of the government’s $1.4 billion Enhancement Project along Independence Boulevard and Cemetery Road, to a meeting at the ministry.
The persons invited to meet the minister were those whose names were previously recorded by the Minister and team and who already had housing applications, while others applied the day after Edghill and his team visited. The statement said that those applications were accepted. However, itwent on to state that new applicants were advised that their applications were now a matter for the Ministry of Housing and Water.
Saying that the meeting was for those persons who had been allocated land but had not yet relocated nor removed from the path of the Ministry’s proposed project, Edghill queried from the participants on some possible reasons. “This meeting is for the people who have not moved and I would like to hear what are the reasons, what are the issues, and why you have not moved.” Many of the residents, the release noted, responded simply saying that they had nowhere to go. They were nevertheless told that once they were allocated land, and based on what category they fell into income-wise, then some assistance could be forthcoming.
I counted how many apartments are there, including the man that got the boxing gym, I [already] counted them. We have to be careful and a little sensitive, [because] if we had allowed it, a few people wanted to take advantage of the situation, [and] it will not be allowed,” Edghill said, adding that his decisions were based on principles.
“I am laying down some clear principles. The land that you are dwelling on belongs to the state, it is government reserve, whether you are here 30 years, 40 years, and 50 years. Consult with any lawyer in the country, or you can take a firm of lawyers, nobody can get prescriptive rights on government reserve…,” he added.
Multiple applications have already been submitted to the Ministry of Housing on behalf of the residents, the statement noted.
Edghill was adamant that, “Nobody is stopping it [the Enhancement Project], this is not about a group of people, this is about national development, and I made that very clear on the afternoon we launched the 1.8-kilometer project.”
Edghill previously explained that the project would entail a double lane carriageway on the northern side of Independence Boulevard and a single lane carriageway on the southern side. He said there will be a promenade between the two carriageways which will be 3 meters in width. On both sides of the roads, concrete drains will be constructed.
