Remaining Cummings Park squatters ordered to relocate within 10 days

Within the next 10 days, the 14 remaining squatters occupying the Cummings Park area, which falls within the flight zone of the Eugene F Correia International Airport, are expected to be relocated.
After years of concerns over squatting within the flight path of the airport at Ogle, the remaining occupants of the Cummings Park settlement are set to be relocated as the Government continues efforts to remove illegal settlements from the area.
The relocation exercise forms part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to remove illegal settlements from the airport’s flight zone due to the significant safety risks posed to both aviation operations and residents.
In 2025, the Government intensified efforts to clear the area, encouraging occupants to apply for house lots through the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).

At the time, some 40 individuals applied for house lots and began the process of relocating to allocated lands, while several other families were assisted by the Ministry of Housing and Water in securing allocations and relocating.
Formal removal notices were also issued, with authorities warning that persons who continued to occupy the area illegally or refused to cooperate would face enforcement action. The Housing Ministry maintained that the area falls within a strict zero-tolerance squatting zone and stressed that its actions were aimed at safeguarding public safety and ensuring the land is used in keeping with national development objectives.
Providing an update on Friday, Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority, Dr Martin Pertab, reiterated the need to relocate the remaining informal settlers because of the dangers associated with living within the airport’s flight path.
Community Development Officer attached to the CEO, Rawle Aaron, said only 14 settlers remain from an original 89 occupants, with several families already relocated to De Endragt and other communities along the East Coast of Demerara.
Aaron explained that house lots have already been allocated and homes constructed at the relocation sites to facilitate the move. He added that the remaining settlers have been given 10 days to vacate the area, while the CH&PA continues to work closely with residents to complete the relocation exercise.
Earlier this year, a public communications consultant for the Eugene F Correia International Airport, Kit Nascimento, alleged that opposition political parties had approached the squatters and encouraged them to remain in the area despite repeated warnings from airport authorities.

He said the squatters had established accommodation in a zone where housing is strictly prohibited because of its proximity to the airport’s flight path. According to Nascimento, airport authorities had first informed the occupants approximately two years ago that they could not remain there and would have to relocate. However, instead of leaving, he said, the settlement continued to expand.
As of February 2026, Housing Minister Collin Croal, during an episode of the Guyana Dialogue, said officials had engaged and started relocating persons from the dam between the Ogle Airstrip and the Cummings Lodge Housing Scheme.
He emphasised that the Government would not recognise new squatting and had made it clear that illegal occupation in sensitive zones would not be allowed to continue.
Croal said a small group of squatters, initially estimated at about eight to nine persons, had been identified occupying land within the Ogle flight zone, specifically along a dam reserve near existing housing developments.
He explained that the location is not suitable for alternative road routing or settlement because the dam serves as an important access reserve and falls within a protected aviation area.
He noted that the land lies between the airstrip and the Cummings Lodge Housing Scheme, where development is already restricted. According to the Minister, aviation authorities have advised that no additional houses can be constructed in that corridor due to flight-path safety requirements associated with operations at the Ogle Airstrip.
Croal said the affected persons had been informed that they would have to relocate and that contravention notices had been served. He explained that the area is important as a reserve for access and is also located within a flight zone.
The Minister further noted that the Government could not construct additional houses on a portion of land between the Ogle Airstrip and Cummings Lodge because the Civil Aviation Authority had advised that further development in the area could affect the flight path.