Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) last month approved a TT$100 million loan to develop 14 sites under the Land Settlement Agency Squatter Regularisation and Land for the Landless programmes.In the coming months, the money will be spent on infrastructural works such as roads, electricity, water, drainage and sewerage for 2,019 residential and non-residential lots of land.
However, Minister of Land and Marine Resources Jairam Seemungal, under whose purview the LSA falls, said obtaining the loan months before the general election to develop land where squatters reside and successful land applicants would be placed was not timed to woo votes.After waiting four years, Seemungal said on Wednesday, the loan was approved last December.
He, however, could not say at what per cent the loan would be repaid and within what time frame. In addition to the loan, the Government had also set aside $20 million to develop smaller sites, Seemungal said."None of these (sites) has anything to do with election or to get votes. It is not a political gimmick for the general election. We would not promise citizens land to woo votes," Seemungal insisted at his El Socorro office on Wednesday.
Seemungal said the sites were selected in both PNM and UNC constituencies."If the PNM wins the election they have the option of distributing the non-residential lots to citizens. We are not doing this for our benefit."Seemungal estimates the country's squatting population at 60,000, with 350 squatting sites in existence.
From June until December, Seemungal said, work would be undertaken in Arima, Gasparillo, Brazil Village, Point Fortin, Debe, Arouca, San Fernando, Carlsen Field, Princes Town and Couva.Of the 14 sites, Bon Air North, Arouca, recorded the largest number of lots with 446, followed by Carlsen Field with 284.Successful Land for the Landless applicants and squatters who are holders of Certificates of Comfort will have to purchase the land from the State at subsidised prices.
The land fees are to be paid over a 30-year period, Seemungal said.Once the land was fully paid for, Seemungal said, the owner would obtain a 199-year deed from the Government.Seemungal said because the LSA needed to revamp its act, no squatter was handed deeds under the People's Partnership Government.
"We are working on the legislation for squatters, which is before the Law Review Commission right now. There (is) some final tweaking to do with it. I am sure it will go to Parliament soon. One thing I can say is that we are going to make squatting an illegal and criminal act."LSA already has in its possession surveyed plans from the Director of Surveys and Valuations for each site, prepared by the Commissioner of Valuation.
Planning and topographic works are being undertaken at several of the sites to get the ball rolling.The LSA, Seemungal said, had already engaged the T&T Mortgage Finance (TTMF) to assist with financial advice."So far, the TTMF has pre-qualified several people for soft loans ranging from $30,000 to $150,000 at two per cent interest rate," Seemungal said.
In many of the sites, Seemungal said, children lived in poor conditions and squalor."A lot of people squat out of necessity, having no place to go. This is why we have been dealing with it in a very human and sensitive way." �2SEE PAGE A14