The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

NEWLY appointed Works and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears says he has not as yet been advised on the way forward as it relates to shanty town demolition in the country.

Mr Sears made the remarks when asked if he intended to follow the steps of his predecessor and prioritise demolition of the illegal structures during his time in office.

He said: “Well I have not been advised about the destruction nor how to deal with shanty towns. We have been focused, and my briefings have been focused on the infrastructural contracts and projects that are in the pipeline — those that are contemplated issues of drainage and how as we move forward to ensure more resilience.

“I also want to point out that I’ve also started to do some inspection about some of the projects being done. Yesterday (Monday), I visited Government House and met with the contractor Mr Wilmott and the project supervisor Mr Pickstock and I’m happy to say that that renovation is going very well.”

However, Mr Sears said he plans to visit Abaco and Grand Bahama in the coming weeks to assess recovery efforts there.

The government was banned from evicting shanty town residents and demolishing homes in 2018 after a Supreme Court granted an injunction protecting shanty towns in New Providence as well as Abaco.

After Hurricane Dorian hit Abaco in 2019, the Minnis administration sought to have the 2018 injunction varied to exclude Abaco shanty towns and their residents, insisting they no longer needed to be protected as the communities were virtually wiped out by the storm.

The government’s bid, however, was rejected in June after Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson ordered an extension of her injunction to include all unregulated communities in Abaco.

Her ruling came after the government launched a joint sting operation on the remaining shanty towns in Abaco and began demolishing newly built structures there.

Officials must now get approval from the court before demolishing any further structures.