President Ali holds community outreach to Annandale

– squatters to be relocated to low-income homes

Fifteen families squatting in Annandale North, East Coast Demerara have been promised assistance by government to secure loans to build low-income homes when they are relocated.

This commitment was made by President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali who walked through the community on Friday to get a first-hand look at the situation.

“We are working now on a set of low-income houses that we will help you to get qualified with New Building Society, for example. We are going to come, get everybody qualified, we are going to put in some help also from the government,” the president stated.

The families will be allocated house lots within three months to an area on the East Coast yet to be identified.

“Wherever there are challenges in this country, this government is going to respond,” President Ali committed.

In Annandale North, there were over 60 families who occupied lands illegally before government made an intervention to regularise the area. While most of them have since received titles for their lands, the remaining 15 are settled on a reserve that is hindering critical agricultural works.

President Ali during his interaction with the residents disclosed that when the PPP/C Government took office in 1992, there were more informal settlements than organised settlements.

He made it known that under successive PPP/C Governments, over 280 areas were regularised from 1992 to date.

“We are going to deal with every situation and every challenge. We want you to have better conditions to live under. Let us all agree this is unacceptable for you, your children and for us a government. We want you it to be better. We want you to have access to good water, access to electricity… we want give you the best environment in which your family can develop,” he noted.

A commitment was also made to the remaining families in the community to improve accessibility with the construction of roads.

“We have made a commitment that all these cross roads will be done in concrete and we have the community who will work along with us in the development of all these cross streets in the area,”President Ali pledged.

Residents were assured that the works will commence within a month. President Ali was accompanied by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal and other local officials.