Seventy-six residents from regularised sections of Greenwich Park (Railway Embankment) Stewartville/Uitvlugt Sideline Dam and Tuschen (Railway Embankment), Region Three yesterday received their Land Titles during an exercise at the Greenwich Park Primary School.
Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal presented the Certificates of Title to a number of residents at the activity. Parliamentary Secretary, Vickash Ramkissoon and Regional Chairman, Inshan Ayube also handed over some of the Titles during the event. Other regional officials, the Director of Community Development at the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), Gladwin Charles and staff were also present.
“We understand that you require development for yourself and development for yourself has to start with you having the ability to own your own space,” Croal said, according to a release from the CHPA. He further noted that the Titles put the landowners in a position to provide safer and stable housing for their families.
A total of 174 squatters have been residing in the three areas for years. Registration for the ownership documents was done on December 10-11, 2022, following a meeting with Croal in September 2022. Processing of the remaining Titles will continue with the cooperation of the other persons, the release said.
Croal noted that the CHPA recorded some thirteen squatting areas in the region after an assessment last year with which the agency will be working to deliver Titles during the first quarter of 2023. He said that no new squatting will be recognised. He said that the Ministry of Housing and Water has also implemented a structured housing programme that eradicates the need for squatting. In zero-tolerance zones, the Minister said that CHPA will have to proceed with relocation and resettlement programmes. Bibi Farida Khan, who has been living at the Stewartville/Uitvlugt Sideline Dam for more than four decades, expressed satisfaction with the work of the Ministry. The CHPA said that she noted that the land title now represents a legacy she can leave behind for her children and is ecstatic that she can close this chapter of her life. “Now I get my title so I’m very happy [and] proud of the government for doing something good for us,” said Khan Another resident of the Sideline Dam, sixty-five-year-old Rohan Kishun, who has been residing in the area for close to forty-five years, also voiced contentment with the work of the government. With his ownership document in hand, he now plans to renovate his home.
“Me gah mek up me place and so on and live better,” Mr. Kishun said, as he expressed his happiness at receiving the Title. During yesterday’s activity, several infrastructure projects ongoing in the region were highlighted by the Minister, including the Schoonord to Crane Four-Lane Highway.
