‘Squatters’ told to get off land earmarked for Highway 2000
Amother and her five children, some of whom used to sleep in chicken coops until a benefactor built them a house, will soon have to find somewhere else to live.
They are among those now told to vacate a property that the Government acquired compulsorily in Linstead, St Catherine, to facilitate construction of a section of Highway 2000.
Their new house was sponsored by philanthropist Rebecca Stewart, better known as Servant Becky, a Trinidadian church leader living in the United States. She was recently on the island overseeing the construction.
She explained that a man, who is among the occupants now served with eviction notices, verbally gave her the go-ahead to build the wooden house on the property.
Stewart said she was moved to build the house to provide relief for the children who are frequently seen roaming the streets of Linstead. Some of them had been sleeping in a chicken coop on the land in question, Stewart said.
The property on which their house was built is owned by the National Road Operating and Constructing Company Limited (NROCC), which is a public entity formed to represent the Government of Jamaica’s interest under a concession agreement signed in relation to the Highway 2000 toll road.
The occupants have been living in two houses on the property in recent times. However, a third house was built there a few days ago for the mother and her children, who previously shared accommodation with a relative who is among the illegal settlers.
Senior manager for land acquisition at NROCC, Phillip Myers told the Jamaica Observer that he went to the property and served notices on three sets of buildings on Saturday, October 2. He was accompanied by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
An undated copy of the notice, which was obtained by the Sunday Observer, asserts that those illegally occupying the land have 30 days to take their belongings and leave. “I went there and they [the illegal occupants] were already awake and they saw when I was putting the notices there. It is as it is, meaning that they cannot stay there,” Myers asserted.
“The land is a very fragile slope to the highway that creates a buttress for the highway works, and they actually dug down the slope. They can’t stay there,” he added.
Since NROCC served the notices, some people have expressed outrage and have questioned why the action was not taken before the mother and her children’s house was completed.
Myers, however, explained that they acted as quickly as possible.
“Every month we do inspections of our properties. We have previously provided notices to quit on somebody who was on that same property, who moved. On one of our inspections we became aware that persons were now putting up a structure. By the time we got the notice and presented it on the property, the structure was already finished,” he said.
Myers warned that other people “will suffer the same fate” if they are caught occupying the land, which is located relatively close to the Linstead Fire Station.