The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

AUTHORITIES posted eviction notices throughout two unregulated communities in New Providence on Monday as the Davis administration restarts its effort to eradicate shanty towns.

Affected residents have 28 days to comply with the notice. Failing this, the government would be expected to destroy their structures.

Works Minister Clay Sweeting said 60 people in the Kool Acres and All Saints Way communities were apprehended for lacking status in the country.

Mr Sweeting said the number of unregulated community structures has grown recently.

Monday’s operation is the most significant the Unregulated Communities Action Task Force has had since Chief Justice Ian Winder ordered the demolition of two shanty town structures in May, far fewer than the 260-plus the administration wanted destroyed.

 Officials from the Department of Immigration, Royal Bahamas Defence Force, police force, and social services reportedly participated in Monday’s operation.

 Mr Sweeting said officials were targeting communities without licences to build businesses.

 “It’s not any specific target or grouping of people,” he said at the Office of the Prime Minister. “So, for us, we wanted to ensure that there’s not a specific target because we do have some Bahamians that’s living in these communities as well. So that’s why we ought to ensure that we include social services and other aspects to ensure that persons that don’t have dwellings, ensure that they are assisted in whichever way needed.”

 In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Works said the eviction process will strive to achieve the “highest level of humanity and dignity”.

 “The Ministry of Health and Wellness, along with the Department of Social Services, are partners in this process and will reach out to each household within unregulated communities to determine household make-up and needs,” the ministry said.

 “Given that some existing residents within these communities will need to resettle/relocate into regulated housing, the Unregulated Communities Action Task Force (UCATF) is seeking to identify potential rental units in New Providence and all islands where unregulated communities exist.”

 “Should the person to whom notice is given fail to comply with this notice, the minister of works may, in accordance with Section 4(3) of the (Buildings Regulation Act), pull down and remove the illegal structures and recover from him the expenses reasonably incurred in so doing.”

 When Chief Justice Ian Winder ordered the demolition of two structures in May, the ruling closed an avenue the Davis administration pursued to begin eradicating many shanty town structures. It put the onus on the minister of works to initiate a process under the Buildings Regulation Act.

 In June, former Minister of Works Alfred Sears said the UCATF secured a $600k budget, far less than the $6.6m the task force requested.