No more slums: Granger says will “abolish squatting”

Confident that the coalition Government will be voted back into office at the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections, President David Granger says that he will establish a National Squatter Resettlement Commission on March 15, 2020, aimed at abolishing squatting across the country.

At a large APNU+AFC rally held at the Leonora Synthetic Track on the West Coast of Demerara in Region Three Friday, the incumbent President made reference to ‘Plastic City’ – a swampy area in Vreed-en-hoop which has small wooden homes on a jetty that leads straight out to the ocean.

“Y’all got an abscess here in Vreed-en-hoop, y’all got a sickness, y’all got a sore…and it name Plastic City.”

“I am telling you this Region Three, by the time this APNU+AFC Government finish its next tour of duty, there will be no Plastic City in Region Three.  On March 15, I will set up a National Squatter Resettlement Commission under the Ministry of Communities,” the President said.

Granger said that the Government will use revenues from the booming oil and gas sector to achieve this goal.

“We are going to make squatter settlements history. People mustn’t live like that in Guyana. People mustn’t live like that in Region Three.

“We are going to use our money, our revenues, our resources to eliminate squatting all over Guyana…I will ensure every Guyanese have a roof, house over his head. Oil money is not for a few rich people, oil money is for you – the ordinary people of this country.

“We have to abolish squatting. No slums, no shantys, no squatting here in Region Three of anywhere in the country,” the Head of State said.

Many residents of Plastic City have been residing there for more than 27 years with no form of assistance.

Residents do not have access to water or electricity. While the Government has made some progress in relocating squatters to better communities in Georgetown, there are no known programmes in place for Plastic City.