Ten months after the massive High Street, Kingston fire that left nine families homeless, many of the victims are still living at the site as they await word from the Ministry of Housing on houselots where they can start rebuilding.
Since the April 25 fire last year, some of the victims have reconstructed the bottom flat of the burnt out building with the rubble from the fire and have since been occupying it.
At the time of the fire, at least 70 persons and 16 families occupied the two-storey building.
According to the resident Patricia Cornette, they have already applied for house lots and paid $46,000 each in security deposits for their lots.
However, so far they have only been told by ministry officials that they will be called to identify their lots in the respective housing schemes where they are to be relocated. They last received word in October of last year.
Cornette, who has seven children, said she is eagerly awaiting the response from the ministry so she can start building her house for her family, since she is concerned about their safety.
She said she is ready to move, providing that she already owns a house.
“I am ready to go but me ain’t going and rent no house and when month come I can’t pay the rent… if I’m moving I’m moving into my own house,” she said.
Meanwhile, she added that the man that claims to be the owner of the Kingston property, Maurice Sukhoo, had offered she and four other occupants of the property a contract to sign on October 25 last year, agreeing that he would stand the expenses to have their house lots paid off for, if they evacuate the premises.
She said that she did not sign the document because she knew that the time was not enough and she could not move.
The fire started on Easter Monday last year, some time after 2 pm and was brought under control by the Guyana Fire Service at about 3.15 pm. Nearby buildings, including the local Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) office, were scorched.
