By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

AFTER years of government pledges to dismantle unregulated communities in Abaco, the Ministry of Works began demolishing more than 100 structures in the Gaza shanty town on the island yesterday. 

Buildings Control Officer Craig Delancy said the demolition exercise started around 10am in the Gaza shanty town located near SC Bootle Highway, west of Murphy Town. Bulldozers clamped down on buildings while residents watched their homes get torn to shreds.

On January 24, officials said they issued 28-day eviction notices to the shanty town residents in Gaza and the Gully. Mr Delancy said none of the structures had building permits, and none of the residents living in the unregulated community owned the land.

 “This morning, when we came in, we still found persons in the homes, and they were on the way of packing up,” Mr Delancy added. “And so, we gave them some time to remove all of the items they wish to move at this time.”

 Residents waited until the last minute to remove their belongings because they anticipated the demolition wouldn’t happen.

 On Facebook Live, Bishop Silbert Mills, a prominent Abaco resident, showed residents carrying their belongings in garbage bags.

 At one point, he showed a man approaching an officer with his passport and other documents.

 “You can see in the distance someone is coming back with garbage bags, a load of stuff they are retrieving last minute from their house,” he said.

 Mr Delancy said there were over 120 structures in Gaza, some of which were unfinished or just starting to be built. He urged people in the two shanty towns called the Gully and the Farm to prepare to move as soon as possible.

 “We’re just carrying out the mandate under the Buildings Regulation Act,” he said.

 Officials are expected to move to the Gully and the Farm today for the ongoing demolition exercise.

 Mr Delancy said most residents yesterday appeared to have housing accommodations.

 The government’s push to demolish shanty towns in Abaco –– where Works Minister Clay Sweeting said more than 90 per cent of the homes reportedly lack running water –– comes after structures in the Kool Acres, All Saints Way, and Area 52 shanty towns of New Providence were destroyed.

 Mr Sweeting said the action is not just a demolition exercise, but one that advises “people to adhere to the law.”

 Last week, amid concerns about whether enough housing is available for shanty town residents facing eviction in Abaco, Central and South Abaco MP John Pinder said that the island’s housing shortage won’t be solved overnight.

 “The housing shortage is not going to be solved overnight. It’s not going to be resolved within a couple of years. And it’s going to be an ongoing problem, but that’s why I encourage all the entrepreneurs out there, anybody that wants to make an investment, Abaco is the place to do it,” Mr Pinder said.