By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

ABACO residents are again sounding the alarm over unsanctioned construction in shanty town communities on the island, saying it is unfair some people are being allowed certain liberties, while others are being treated like "fourth class citizens" in their own country.

This comes after Works Minister Desmond Bannister pledged the government will take all necessary action "within the law" to halt further unregulated development on Abaco. He was responding to aerial surveillance which circulated online this week, showing new construction taking place in a shanty town in the community, known as the Farm Road.

Speaking to The Tribune yesterday, chairman of Treasure Cay local government Stephanie Hield said she estimated that some 200 illegal structures have been constructed in the Farm Road shanty town since Hurricane Dorian in early September.

"According to the pictures that I posted, from the drone footage, in one area it could be over 200. This is the Farm Road in Treasure Cay. It's not being constructed; it's already constructed," she said.

Residents are concerned if the matter is not dealt with soon it could mirror the pre-Dorian situation which saw several large unregulated shanty towns on the island.

"This has been going on and it's still continuously going on from since the storm," said Mrs Hield. "These homes were being built and I've been inquiring for nine months (into the issue).

"... It's about right or wrong here because if you come into our country, we want you to abide by the (rules) because if you go into other people country, we have to abide by their rules and regulations."

Roscoe Thompson, head of Marsh Harbour/Spring City Council, added: "Where is police, where is immigration on this matter? Those are questions I would like to know. Why are we now allowing this to pop up?...You don't allow them because the Mudd and the Peas is destroyed to go down to the Farm Road."

Before Hurricane Dorian decimated them last year, shanty towns across Abaco had more than 1,000 homes and an estimated population size of 3,500, according to government reports.

However, two weeks after the storm hit the island, the government issued an immediate ban on the construction of any new buildings in the four major shanty towns on Abaco.

To assist with the debris removal in the communities, the Minnis administration awarded contracts to several companies last year. Several shanty towns, including The Mudd, Pigeon Peas, Sandbanks, has since been cleared.

However, Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness, Management and Reconstruction Iram Lewis previously said officials have faced obstacles in clearing the Farm Road shanty town community due to it being occupied by a number of inhabitants.

Asked yesterday where people may have gotten the materials to build the illegal homes, Ms Hield said she believed shantytown dwellers were receiving building supplies from different NGO's and second homeowners on the island.

"It's between the NGOs, the second homeowners in Treasure Cay. Some are buying but you have buildings that was destroyed in Treasure Cay and they are taking all the scrap wood from those and they're building," she said.

Noting the situation as unfair, she added: "Our homes were destroyed and we are now in the process of rebuilding and we had to go through all the plans going to Environmental Health, the Ministry of Works, going through all of the procedures and all the other Bahamians are going through the same procedures and these people could come into our country and they could do what they feel like and everyone has to (be) hush hush."

Ms Hield also said she have reached out to various officials, but nothing has been done to rectify the issue.

She told The Tribune: "We have had officials accompany us twice to the farm so we could show them because they have a section where all the homes are being built named hidden valley. And unless you know where you're going into the farm, you would pass hidden valley and think its just bushes."

"You have to go in with somebody to show you how to manoeuvre through there. But, like I said, this has been going on and it's still continuously going on."

Speaking to Tribune Business on Wednesday, Mr Bannister said the government was somewhat restricted in the action it could take given that persons are still living in the area. He also said officials were also restricted by previous Supreme Court orders obtained by human rights activists, which blocks the the government from demolishing shanty towns in the country.

Still, he promised the government will mobilise all relevant agencies to deal with the issue.

He said: "Cabinet is very concerned by what we saw happening in essentially one location in Abaco. Cabinet is very concerned about it, and I believe you will see some action in relation to that shortly with any number of government agencies."