By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

WORKS and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears says his ministry is investigating the development of unregulated shanty towns across the country with a view to make recommendations to Cabinet on how to deal with the illegal communities.

Mr Sears said the recommendations will be included in a comprehensive report centred on shanty towns and will be presented to Cabinet upon completion.

The revelation comes after government officials raised alarm about increased incidents of unlawful land clearing in the country and promised to crack down on those engaging in the illegal practice.

With respect to shanty towns, Mr Sears was clear the government does not condone anyone erecting illegal structures on public land.

However, he said the Davis administration must be guided before an official stance is taken.

“With respect to any squatting on government land, that matter is now being reviewed,” the minister told reporters before going to a Cabinet meeting yesterday.

“I spoke with the chairman of the town planning board, Mr Johnson. I know they are reviewing it. Also, the building control unit of the Ministry of Works, so I should have a comprehensive report and the report that I expect will have options and recommendations. At which time, I will go to Cabinet and present a strategy and we will then implement.

“I was in Abaco three weeks ago for the commissioning of the little Abaco bridge and I was driving from the airport, I was told that there are certain communities which subsequent to Hurricane Dorian have been established.

“Upon returning to Nassau, I asked the town planning and the building control to investigate the reports that I have received, and I expect that those reports will be forthcoming and with recommendation and in the context of that report, it will address the history that is what the previous government would’ve done.”

The Minnis administration began demolishing illegal structures in Abaco last year in a bid to eliminate the remaining shanty towns on the island after many of the communities were wiped out by Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

However, the demolition exercises were stopped after Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson ordered the government to cease and desist further interference with those communities until the judicial review of the matter was completed.

She also ordered that officials must get approval from the court before demolishing any further structures.

Asked yesterday if the government planned to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, the minister said officials will wait to receive recommendations from ministry officials familiar with the situation before taking a position.

Mr Sears also acknowledged the housing crisis on the island post-Dorian as a serious challenge and committed the government to addressing it in a comprehensive manner.

“We have a human situation in Abaco,” he said. “We have thousands of people who were displaced and Bahamian citizens and long-term residents, some of whom are housed in domes and other temporary facilities which were not intended for any long-term habitation.

“The minister of housing has already broken (ground) for a new subdivision in Abaco to address this human situation of displacement. Many persons have been made refuges… we have to address this matter of housing in a very comprehensive way so that we can provide stability as well as habitable places where people can put their lives back together...but one thing is certain that no one has an unfettered right to establish unregulated communities on public land.”