No housing estate for Cocoyea

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning has assured residents of Scotland Drive, Cocoyea, that plans to construct a low-cost housing development on their doorsteps had not been sanctioned by either of the two State agencies involved in home construction — the National Housing Authority (NHA), or the Urban Development Corporation of TT (UDeCOTT). The residents, numbering some 260 persons, had signed a petition calling for an immediate halt to the housing development on some four acres of reserve land in the middle-class community which, according to community spokesperson, Michael Charles, had been earmarked as a nature park by the property’s original owners.

At an outdoor meeting held at the home of a concerned resident, Ranjit Maharaj yesterday, the Prime Minister stated “neither the National Housing Authority nor UDecott, which are the two agencies that are involved in housing construction, neither of those has any intention of constructing any low-cost housing on that four-acre estate.” “I give you an assurance that if it is the area was zoned for a purpose other than housing, then it will be used for that purpose,” he said. And, to sustained applause from the residents, added investigations into the plans for the site would be conducted during the coming week. Manning also addressed concerns over an influx of squatters onto lands adjacent to the residential community saying while there was no clear-cut government policy to curb squatting, his administration was intent on reducing the problem with the construction of some 100,000 new homes over the next decade.

“One of the shortcomings of the State at this time is that we do not have a proper mechanism in place to contain squatting on State lands,” he said, adding the Land Settlement Agency had been mandated to deal with the problem on both public and State lands. However, Manning observed squatting was a “manifestation of a more deep-seated social problem,” which had to be solved at its source. After the meeting, which lasted some 75 minutes, residents expressed relief saying they were pleased the Prime Minister had heeded their calls for an investigation into the alleged housing development rumours.