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Monday, April 20, 2009
MONTEGO BAY, St James - Water and Housing Minister Dr Horace Chang has defended last week's demolition of five houses on state owned-lands in the Whitehouse area of Westmoreland.
"The demolition is unfortunate but I have to defend the action of my officers because we can't condone squatting," Chang told the Observer.
At the same time, Chang said that he has asked Member of Parliament for the area, Luther Buchanan, to identify suitable state-owned lands to relocate the displaced occupants.
"I sympathised with them (squatters) and I am in discussion with the MP to identify suitable lands as soon as possible, so that we can lease them the land for a peppercorn fee so that they can live in a structured way," Chang said.
Last Friday, more than 22 persons were left homeless after a team from the housing ministry flattened their houses after an agreement between the housing ministry and one of the occupiers to purchase the one and a half acre property reportedly fell through.
According to Chang, more than 10 years ago the occupier - who he did not name - agreed to purchase the property from the ministry of housing at a cost of $500,000.
A initial payment of $45,000 was subsequently made, Chang said, but the occupier failed to deposit anymore money on the property.
He said the man continued to occupy the property despite several warnings from the ministry of housing for him to vacate the land.
"What he did was that instead of paying for or vacating the property, he proceeded to lease other persons parcels of it to build houses on," Chang explained. "If nothing was done to stop this, then very soon the land would be filled with unplanned settlements."
Meanwhile, Buchanan expressed confidence that he would find a suitable site within days for the displaced occupants to be relocated.
"I will come up with a suitable place so that the process to reconstruct the houses for the families can begin," he said.
The families, he added, are currently staying with relatives and friends in Westmoreland.
MONTEGO BAY, St James - Water and Housing Minister Dr Horace Chang has defended last week's demolition of five houses on state owned-lands in the Whitehouse area of Westmoreland.
"The demolition is unfortunate but I have to defend the action of my officers because we can't condone squatting," Chang told the Observer.
At the same time, Chang said that he has asked Member of Parliament for the area, Luther Buchanan, to identify suitable state-owned lands to relocate the displaced occupants.
"I sympathised with them (squatters) and I am in discussion with the MP to identify suitable lands as soon as possible, so that we can lease them the land for a peppercorn fee so that they can live in a structured way," Chang said.
Last Friday, more than 22 persons were left homeless after a team from the housing ministry flattened their houses after an agreement between the housing ministry and one of the occupiers to purchase the one and a half acre property reportedly fell through.
According to Chang, more than 10 years ago the occupier - who he did not name - agreed to purchase the property from the ministry of housing at a cost of $500,000.
A initial payment of $45,000 was subsequently made, Chang said, but the occupier failed to deposit anymore money on the property.
He said the man continued to occupy the property despite several warnings from the ministry of housing for him to vacate the land.
"What he did was that instead of paying for or vacating the property, he proceeded to lease other persons parcels of it to build houses on," Chang explained. "If nothing was done to stop this, then very soon the land would be filled with unplanned settlements."
Meanwhile, Buchanan expressed confidence that he would find a suitable site within days for the displaced occupants to be relocated.
"I will come up with a suitable place so that the process to reconstruct the houses for the families can begin," he said.
The families, he added, are currently staying with relatives and friends in Westmoreland.
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