Newly-appointed Ministers of Housing & Water (MoH&W), Collin Croal and Susan Rodrigues, have assured Sophia squatters that their homes will not be demolished.
This assurance was given as the Ministers conducted a walk-about and fact-finding mission in the communities of Block X Liliendaal (Section A) Sophia, and Block (R) Turkeyen. According to a MoH&W release, the Ministers were responding to an invitation by the residents who wanted to air their concerns. The Ministers engaged the residents and assured them that the “strong-armed approach” is a thing of the past and instead, an “inclusive and humanitarian” stance will be adopted and implemented.
The residents through their community leaders had reached out to the ministers, citing their feelings of neglect when it comes to house lot allocation. Though only a few days on the job, the Ministers opted to give the residents an audience after having been briefed on the issue of squatting.
Croal iterated that Ministry has always adopted a zero-tolerance approach to squatting but acknowledged that a comprehensive plan will have to be formulated to address the issue in the near future. Residents were urged to be patient with the Central Housing & Planning Authority (CH&PA) and to cooperate with the authorities in their bid to effectively address housing issues. He also assured that their issues will be addressed with some urgency as the CH&PA is formulating a comprehensive housing policy which will cater to the needs of all. Croal noted that the agency will be giving priority to the matter since in some instances squatting impedes on infrastructure development.
Rodrigues noted that she has been active in the community prior to taking up her ministerial post and unfortunately has witnessed firsthand, people’s homes being demolished.
Some residents complained that late last year they were invited to an outreach where they were made to add their names and contact information to a list so that they could be reached when lands are available. To date the residents said they have not been contacted. They decided to engage the Ministers as they are afraid that their properties, which are all on the government’s reserve, would be demolished. “We have no intention of living on the dam for the rest of our life, we are willing to move if we are given lands,” one resident lamented, the release added.
