Minister Dharamlall apprised of illegal land allocation in Mahdia

– says the Town Council has no legal authority

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall during a recent outreach to Region Eight, was informed of several residents being duped by the town council there to purchase illegal lands in 2019.

During a meeting with the residents, Roger Hinds also known as ‘The Godfather’, a resident of Mahdia for over 28 years told the minister that he was one of the many recipients to benefit from this allocation.

He disclosed that the Mahdia Town Council had played an instrumental role in distributing the lands. Hinds said the land he received was allocated with the understanding that he would be constructing a gas station, however, he opted to build a hotel instead. The intention, he said, was to boost the region’s economy while creating jobs for residents.

However, his efforts became futile after he received a letter from the council requesting the return of the land.

“For the past two or three years, there has been no development in Mahdia. Mahdia just stands still when it comes to development. And so, they give me the land and then about four months after they send me a document telling me that they need back the land.  

“I have invested about two million dollars on the land for grading and putting systems to build but then they send the letter claiming that they want the land to do something else,” Hinds explained to Minister Dharamlall.

Hinds said while he is unsure whether the current Government can address this, he hopes that bringing the matter to light will prevent a recurrence.

Mayor of Mahdia, His Worship David Adams who was also present at the meeting said he was privy to information about the illegal allocation, which he described as “out of his control”. The mayor explained that he was abiding by orders given by the then Coalition Government and as such, the council did what was required of them at that time.

“We (town council) were assigned the responsibility of allotting lots that were already inherited by housing. We had knowledge that these lands were selected by Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) for housing and so with that information, we went forward,” he further explained.

Minister Dharamlall said that “the town council does not own land so they cannot give you anything. The town council has no legal authority, absolutely no legal authority to deal with housing in the sense that you can distribute land for housing. The only authority for this is the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).”

He told Hinds that this is indeed an unfortunate situation. “I say this without any fear of contradiction that no Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) or municipality has any land that belongs to them unless it is transported to them, as the lands are either owned by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) or by transport. If land has to be given out, all housing issues are dealt with by the Central Housing and Planning Authority,” the local government minister noted. A similar incident had taken place in Fryish/Gibraltar, Region Six during the same year where the local organ there was also instructed by the then Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon to do so.