Regularisation of Amelia’s Ward Phase Four to begin soon – Minister Croal

– close to 900 informal settlers found in the area

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) will soon begin the regularisation of informal settlers in Amelia’s Ward Phase Four, Linden, Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal MP said a verification process conducted by the agency found close to 900 illegal structures erected in the area earmarked for housing development.  

Minister of Housing and Water Hon. Collin Croal, MP

The Minister, along with Permanent Secretary, Mr. Andre Ally and a team of engineers from the projects department, recently visited the area and found persons erecting large concrete structures.  

“So, the teams have done a verification of what is existing. In fact, they have already come to the facilities and verified what is here, and they have tagged every location, so we have a numbering system in place,” Minister Croal told DPI in a recent interview.  

He explained that the verification process does not mean the settlers would get housing in that area.

 “In the regularisation, we have to take note of who are the persons that are there; we have to verify if they have ownership elsewhere and if they have already benefitted from the system. So, those are some of the things that we go through the screening process before we go to the physical regularisation,” he explained.

Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, MP, Permanent Secretary Mr. Andre Ally and engineers of the Projects Department at the site

Once the regularisation begins and the area is surveyed, the squatters will have to shift or move to accommodate the necessary infrastructural development, which will be catered for in the Ministry’s 2022 programme. 

“As we normally do for every new housing area, we will put the necessary roads and drainage network in place, of course catering for water…we have the expansion of the water distribution network in Amelia’s Ward because of the expansion in that area.”

The area where illegal structures are being erected in Amelia’s Ward Phase Four

Minister Croal urged Lindeners to desist from squatting since new illegal structures would not be recognised and included in CH&PA’s inventory. 

As part of its housing programme in Linden, the CH&PA had acquired additional lands from the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC), with Amelia’s Ward Phase Four among areas zoned out for house lot distribution. The Ministry held its largest house lots distribution exercise last week, which saw some 400 Lindeners allocated lands in Amelia’s Ward. Another 144 land titles and transports were also distributed.

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