The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

EVICTION notices were posted on 95 structures in an unregulated community in Abaco on Wednesday as the government ramps up efforts to eliminate shanty towns on that island.

Residents there have 28 days to leave, according to Buildings Control Officer Craig Delancy.

He said the notices were posted in an area called the Gully on SC Bootle Highway.

More eviction notices were expected to be posted in Abaco yesterday.

The move into Abaco comes after structures were demolished in the Kool Acres and All Saints Way shanty towns in New Providence.

 “We would just like to admonish those in the unregulated areas to make their way out, prepare to leave before we come so that you would have more time to get out and get established in a regulated community area because we know a lot of the houses were built without any approval and they are on Crown land without permission,” Mr Delancy said.

 Although successive administrations have pledged to eradicate shanty towns, their efforts were often stymied in court.

 Last year, in a long-awaited ruling, Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson concluded that the Minnis administration’s eradication policies were lawful.

 The Office of the Attorney General then asked Chief Justice Sir Ian Winder to order the demolition of nearly 300 structures that were built in contravention of Justice Grant-Thompson’s previous order prohibiting the construction, erection or alteration of buildings or structures in shanty towns throughout the country pending her ruling.

 Sir Ian only granted permission for two structures to be demolished. However, his ruling paved the way for the minister of works to initiate a demolition process under the Buildings Regulation Act. The Davis administration has since been demolishing structures without court challenges.