Residents whose homes were demolished at Hill Foot get house lots

One year after homes at Hill Foot in Soesdyke, EBD had been demolished due to a dispute with the property owner, the aggrieved residents on Friday participated in a land identification exercise at the Kuru Kururu (Swan Turn) extension area, led by Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy, and members of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC).
Following the demolition last year, McCoy and Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), Sherwyn Greaves, had met with the affected persons. The conflict had stemmed from the demolition of squatters’ structures by private landowner Lawrence Almeem, who had taken those squatters to court and was enforcing a court order for their removal. At that meeting, Greaves had said that each household would be offered a plot of land or a turnkey house, based on their preference. He had indicated that all the applications would be fast-tracked, and had urged the squatters to work with the agency.
The Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) had also offered squatters land at Long Creek, and persons had had the option of remaining at the Hill Foot land and applying for prescriptive rights.
It was reported that the owner of the property had taken court action in 2019 to remove the squatters, and a court ruling had been issued on the matter in April 2023. The order was granted to have the squatters removed from the land, which is privately owned.

Following the demolition of several homes, occupants had taken protest action by blocking the roads with burning debris. Details provided had indicated that the residents were given notices to vacate the property before the demolition. While some had got a chance to remove their items from the structures, others did not.
In retaliation to the demolition, several persons had armed themselves with missiles and offensive weapons before piling up and lighting debris and tyres across the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.