Tiger Bay residents censure move to revoke their houselots
Stabroek News
October 31, 2002
A move by the Ministry of Housing and Water to rescind and reallocate houselots which were awarded to residents in the Tiger Bay area has been met with sharp criticism by members of the community.
They say that assistance which was promised to them both by government and the business community has not materialised. Dozens of Tiger Bay residents were left homeless after a fire ripped through the area on December 14, 1998.
In July of this year, a letter from the Central Housing and Planning Authority was issued to residents of the area who were unable to meet the Ministry's schedule for payments on the lots allocated to them, threatening to reassign the lots if they failed to make payments by August 7 this year.
In November of 1999, when the first lots were awarded to residents for housing areas at Haslington\Enmore, Belfield, Grove\Diamond, and Tuschen, the total land cost was $58,000, which was accompanied by a $12,000 legal fee. It was understood that residents would pay a first instalment of $19,300, within a three-month period, while the balance would be paid within a 15-month period, which was later extended to two years.
Still, many residents subsequently failed to make the payment date, and Stabroek News understands that lots were rescinded in the Belfield area.
Those who were unable to pay received a letter, signed by acting Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority P.K Balram.
One of the letters which was obtained by Stabroek News states: "I wish to remind you that an allocation of house lot number (number given) in the (name given) housing area was made to you on condition that payment must be completed in accordance with the payment schedule.
It has been noted you have not made the required payment and therefore have breached the terms and conditions of the allocation.
I am now informing you that should you fail to make the necessary payment by August 7, 2002, the Central Housing and Planning Authority will rescind the allocation and reallocate the lot."
But this development comes as no surprise, according to members of the West End Management Committee (WEMC), which is coordinating the community's relocation programme. They say that the Ministry had been warned since 1999 that the majority of residents of the community could not afford the government's land price nor meet the payment schedule set out.
"From the beginning we told the government that the people could not afford it," secretary of the committee Euclid Hackett told reporters at a press conference last week.
Hackett noted that the area is a depressed community, which has a stigma attached to it and while this is so, nothing is being done for the community or the residents there.
Despite efforts to negotiate a price more reasonable to residents of the community, the committee says that the ministry has clearly indicated that this could not be done.
While the ministry had promised to help them acquire loans to build houses along with members of the business community who own land in the area, the support is yet to materialise, Hackett said. "Every time something is promised, nothing materialises, nothing at all." "You say the area is earmarked for business and we are willing to give up the community, we are prepared to move, but we need assistance," Hackett said, while making an appeal to the minister not to rescind the lots.
This was echoed by committee chairman Kelvin Andrews who noted that the residents did not need threats from the ministry but rather assistance.
According to Andrews, self-help is the only option available to the residents and they would be prepared to follow that course.
The residents of the community who lost their lots in Belfield, Stabroek News was informed, will be awarded lots in other housing areas.