Some 46 families who have for decades been squatting at Cameron Dam on the West Bank of Demerara in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) have been allocated lands at Lust-en-Rust, Canal Number One Polder, WBD.
Cameron Dam has been earmarked for road networking and other infrastructural development, and as such, relocating these families was necessary.
At a meeting held with the families earlier this year,
Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal had committed to seeing to the end the relocation process for the families.
Persons pulling their lot numbers
On Friday, a representative from each household pulled lot numbers when the documentation process was initiated. Each family has been allocated a plot of land measuring 45feet×80 feet.
Over the weekend, the families will be engaging staff of the Central Housing & Planning Authority’s Survey Department in an exercise designed to demarcate these plots of land.
Minister Croal has used the opportunity to remind persons that there is no need for squatting, as the Ministry is working on a comprehensive plan to address the issue of housing for persons engaged in squatting. He is therefore encouraging persons to refrain from squatting, and to utilise the right channel to obtain a house lot.
Additionally, Croal engaged residents of Barnwell, Acme Housing Scheme (Vergenoegen), Greenwich Park North and Greenwich Park Railway Lands at the Greenwich Park Primary School in a meeting geared at updating the residents on the status of their outstanding land ownership issues.
Just last month, ten families who are squatting on lands at the Zeelugt Sideline Dam were allocated house lots in the new Stewartville Housing Scheme, WCD. The allocations were done by a team from the CHPA, including Community Development Director Gladwin Charles, Regional Housing Officer O’Shanna Miggins, and other technical staff.
That relocation was expected to improve the environs of Zeelugt, while also improving the living conditions of the squatters.
