By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Ryan Pinder said the Davis administration would demolish shanty town structures using the process outlined in the Buildings Regulation Act after the Supreme Court failed to deliver a favourable result to the government last week.

Chief Justice Ian Winder ordered the demolition of just two structures, far fewer than the 260-plus structures the administration wanted to be destroyed in New Providence and Abaco.

Government lawyers said the structures were built in contravention of Justice Cheryl Grant Thompson’s previous order that no structure in a shanty town be constructed, erected or altered pending her ruling on the Minnis administration’s eradication policies.

“So that action was specific to the injunction that was given years ago, with respect to the shanty towns, and the judge ruled that the notice of the injunction was not adequately served on the applicable people that were enjoined,” Mr Pinder said yesterday before a Cabinet meeting. 

“That does not foreclose us from proceeding under violations of the Buildings Regulation Act. That was specific to the injunction, which we wanted to proceed to test the injunction and test that matter in front of the courts; however, we certainly have every right to proceed with violations of the Buildings Regulation Act. 

“We intend to proceed along that process that has a notice process, and there are some prescribed requirements under the regulations that we have to follow, so we still are going to proceed under violation of the Buildings Regulation.” 

Mr Pinder couldn’t say when the new process would begin.

“That is up to the committee (Unregulated Communities Action Task Force) to decide,” he said. “Certainly, as far as the Attorney General’s Office is concerned, we’ll put in the legal requirements and the legal processes to give the government the authority to proceed. But as you can imagine, it’s a very sensitive matter with respect to social assistance, with respect to Bahamians living in these structures and the government’s response to that. 

“All of those were in the remit of the committee, and I know they’re actively working on that, especially in conjunction with Social Services.”

According to the Buildings Regulation Act, people can only build structures with valid permits. The law allows the Minister of Works to issue a notice demanding owners without proper permits to remove their structures. If the owners fail to do so after 28 days, the minister can have the structures removed after applying to a magistrate.

A recent affidavit from Building Control Officer Crag Delancy said an “exponential increase in the amount of illegal structures” occurred even though Justice Grant-Thompson’s Order prohibited such construction.

He revealed that illegal structures expanded by 41 on the north side of SC Bootle Highway, Marsh Harbour; by 53 on the south side of SC Bootle Highway, Marsh Harbour; by 80 on the Farm near Treasure Cay, Abaco; by 13 in All Saints Way, New Providence; and by 15 and 27 in the New Providence communities of Montgomery Road and Butlers Way.