Blairmont informal settlers get another six months extension
– to relocate to CH&PA land
A six-month extension has been granted to 16 informal settlers in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) to relocate to lands which they were allocated by the Central Housing and Planning Authority.
The families who reside along the reserve at Blairmont were allocated lands near the Balthyock Housing Scheme in October 2021, with an agreement to relocate by January 2022.
The failure of the informal settlers to relocate prompted a meeting with the Minister within the Housing and Water Ministry, Susan Rodrigues on Wednesday to have the issue sorted.
During the engagement, residents cited several reasons, including financial constraints for their failure to occupy the land.
A unanimous decision was taken between residents and the minister for an extension.
“We will give them an additional six months extension for them to remove their homes from where it is now to the lands they were allocated. We have a representative from the MMA and he has agreed to offer some assistance in terms of helping some of the elderly people to move their structures,” Minister Rodrigues said following the meeting with the residents.
She said she was given the assurance by residents that they will relocate to their land within the stipulated timeframe.
The extension is the third by the ministry. After the extension in January expired, residents were granted a second which expired at the end of July.
Meanwhile, residents were reminded that informal settlement is illegal. The minister urged them to keep their word. She informed residents that the government is working to satisfy the 4,000 house lot applications currently in the ministry’s database for the region.
Nevertheless, the minister said the government is well on track to deliver on its 50,000 house lots allocation by 2025.
In the first two years of the PPP/C’s term in office, over 15,000 lots were distributed. In 2022 alone, the ministry anticipates over 14,000 house lots will be distributed.