Houston residents officially notified of offer to buy out lands

– Legal Affairs Ministry to negotiate compensation

Officials from the Public Infrastructure Ministry on Monday met with residents of Houston, East Bank Demerara (EBD) on the possible acquisition of their land for the new Demerara River bridge.
The residents were told that the Legal Affairs Ministry would be responsible for negotiating any compensation for the acquisition of the land and property.
The ministerial delegation to meet with the four households included Central Transport and Planning, Senior Engineer, Ronald Roberts; Transport Planning Officer Ramona Duncan and Socio-environmental Officer Shawn-Ann Greene.
During the engagement, Greene explained that the “first grassroots community meeting” was an effort by the Ministry to foster a transparent process as the project gets underway.

Even though the project is in its initial stages, Greene emphasised that community engagement from the get-go was a necessity.
“We want to ensure that you are informed every step of the way,” Greene said. She added that all of the previously identified homes might not be affected upon the determination of the final design of the bridge; nonetheless, all of the residents would be privy to the necessary information.
The proposed alignment of the new bridge and additional project details, including findings from the Feasibility Study and Design, were also shared with the residents.
The residents were informed that more detailed economic, social, and environmental impact assessments would be conducted when the project moved beyond its preliminary stages and these assessments would take into account many of the residents’ concerns.
According to the residents, their main concerns were being evicted from their properties without adequate notice and not being adequately compensated.
The residents also shared that while they had no issues with relocation, they would prefer new homes on the East Bank of Demerara or somewhere close by.
“We’ve established lives for ourselves in this area; we’re accustomed to this life and we want to continue those lives as best as possible,” one resident explained.
In turn, the Ministry officials emphasised that sufficient notice would be given if the removal of homes became necessary.
Furthermore, the officials shared that the Legal Affairs Ministry would be negotiating directly with the residents on compensation while the Lands and Surveys Department would be conducting the valuation process to ensure that residents were correctly reimbursed for their homes.
The residents expressed their appreciation for the meeting with the Ministry officials and said that the meeting quelled much of their fears.
“Today’s (Monday) meeting was very informative and I appreciate the Ministry coming and making us aware of what’s going on, ‘cause all the time we didn’t know anything about what was going on. Now that they’ve come, we feel a bit more comfortable with the process and whatever has to come in the future, we will try to cooperate with whatever has to be done,” Rantwi Rupnarain, a Houston resident for 60 years, said.
The new Demerara River bridge, which will connect Houston on the East Bank and Versailles on the West Bank, will be a medium-level bridge with three vehicular lanes and a central movable part in the form of a lift span to allow for the passage of ocean-going vessels.
The project will also include the construction of two fly-over bridges and 11 kilometres of connecting roads on the eastern and western banks of the Demerara River, providing seamless connection to the existing road network. The new bridge is expected to alleviate traffic congestion, reduce travel time and distances, and provide a level of service never before experienced on Guyana’s roadways. Construction is scheduled to commence in 2018.