Several persons who were removed from the land have been responding positively by going to the ministry where a special desk was set up to look at their housing demands, he reported.

Baksh, at a press briefing at his office in Georgetown, said a joint exercise was mounted by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) and the Ministry of Housing and Water to remove a number of squatters from the land.

He said 34 persons who had placed markers on the land have removed them.

Those who had erected shacks there as well have demolished them.

He said 70 per cent of the land on which markers were placed has been cleared.

Baksh said further efforts would be made to clear the remaining portion of the land, which is on the southern side of Liliendaal and to the north of the Dennis Street roadway in Sophia.

He also reported that since the exercise was mounted there were no further or renewed attempts by persons to reoccupy land in that area.

The ministry, along with GUYSUCO, will put up notices against squatting in the area and will proceed at a later date to build a barbed wire fence around the area to prevent intruders, he explained.

The Housing Minister said there are 50 persons on the list of those who had squatted on the land.

However, it was revealed that 35 of them have never applied to the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) for house lots.

He said 10 persons had applied between 1999 and 2002 and had all received acknowledgement letters of their applications.

He noted that three persons were also offered house lots at Parfait/La Harmonie, one at Tuschen (Region Three) and another had been allocated a lot at Section "C" Turkeyen.

The person who was allocated a lot at Turkeyen has not been able to build because the land was occupied by a squatter, he explained

Baksh said the ministry intends to process by month end, the applications of persons from among those who were removed from Liliendaal, based on eligibility and their needs.

The minister last week vehemently condemned the attempted illegal occupation of the land owned at Liliendaal.

He said a large group, at one point numbering about 400, had moved on to the land north of the University of Guyana and south of the railway embankment, where the new CARICOM (Caribbean Community) headquarters is under construction.

He indicated that the occupation was well organised and orchestrated because the persons began putting down pickets and proceeded to paint them. Unknown persons seemed to have been making allottments of plots, he said.

"Also persons were there with paint, and were painting pickets. Some persons were seen weeding land. And this is of concern to the Ministry of Housing and Water.

"I want to warn persons squatting on this land, land owned by the Guyana Sugar Corporation," Baksh had declared.

He made it categorically clear that the land has not been identified for housing because it will be used for development purposes, including the construction of a convention centre and international hotel.

Baksh had emphasised that his ministry will take all the necessary measures to remove illegal occupants of the land, but expressed his willingness to meet representatives of the persons involved to discuss any needs or problems they may have.

He appealed to them to heed his call to have the matter amicably resolved.

The minister alluded to the massive housing development programme across the country, pointing out that house lots are available in the newly developed housing schemes, including Enmore and Parfait/La Harmonie and added that he is prepared to deal with their requests expeditiously.