Urgent need for urban and rural informal settlement upgrading programme

THE EDITOR, Madam:

There is a serious need for islandwide urban and rural informal settlement upgrading programme coordinated by the National Housing Trust (NHT).

The callous demolition of the houses at Coopers Pen by the private developers with the assistance of the police is totally unacceptable as a strategy for addressing the problem of informal settlements.

We have inherited a situation which started even before the emancipation of slavery, when former slaves were not rewarded for their years of hard labour without pay, but were essentially freed only to be faced with nowhere to live.

Informal settlements or so-called squatter settlements therefore sprung up all over the island and over the years, this has only been perpetuated by our people and in some cases encouraged by politicians.

To solve the problem once and for all, each settlement has to be individually assessed, to first determine if all or some of the houses should be relocated. Then a full land survey has to be done to plan infrastructure and identify each plot of land. The infrastructure, such as roads or lanes, water and sewage will then need to be constructed by the Government of Jamaica (GOJ). Each resident would then be given security of tenure via long term land leases and invited to apply to the NHT for a loan to improve their home. For those to be relocated a similar approach would be taken.

The GOJ needs to wake up and be proactive in playing the lead role in this National Initiative which would best be coordinated by the NHT as an islandwide urban and rural informal settlement upgrading programme.

ROBERT STEPHENS

rspragma@yahoo.com

Advocates Network Member