The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Works recently posted contravention notices on 28 shanty town structures in New Providence and is in the process of demolishing them, according to a top official.

Brent Ferguson, the ministry’s building control officer, said yesterday: “This is an ongoing exercise and other notices would have been issued and will continue to be issued as the need arises.”

His comment came after Works Minister Desmond Bannister urged Bahamians to report shanty town structures so they can be demolished.

“Where they see these shanty houses being constructed, it’s important for them to report them to the Ministry of Works,” he told reporters yesterday before a Cabinet meeting.

“This weekend, a constituent of mine in Carmichael sent me photographs showing shanty houses being constructed at a shanty town in my constituency. (There’s) another one in Tall Pines. And if you see these photographs, they are very close to legally built homes of Bahamians and they are going to cause challenges in those communities.

“The building control officer has been notified. We’re going to give them the requisite notices and we are going to take them down.”

The Ministry of Works has begun demolishing occupied structures in The Farm shanty town in Abaco and is determined to demolish all such structures that were built after the Supreme Court granted an injunction against demolishing shanty town structures in 2018.

“There is a culture now that is developing of persons who determine they are not going to comply with what the court has ordered,” Mr Bannister said.

“Notwithstanding what the court has said, they won’t comply. It is important in those circumstances for those of us who care about our way of life, who care about our communities where we are going to grow up our children, where our families are going to live, that we report these irregularities when we see them so that the government authorities can act promptly.

“They’ve been going on for many years and I keep saying that unless we do something—we already have challenges with our water table—we are going to have more challenges with our water table, sanitation issues, we’re gonna have challenges with our health issues and it is most important for all of us to be able to safeguard our heritage.

“We are moving every day, every single day we are doing something,” he continued. “Under the law we have to post notices. We have to give a 28-day notice and in many cases, you have to give a 14-day notice. We act within the law. When the notices expire, we will do what we have to do to demolish them. Please, please, please report. Every day we get new reports.”