Buchanan

EASTERN WESTMORELAND member of Parliament (MP) Luther Buchanan says work has begun to relocate five families whose houses were bulldozed by the state on Friday.

"I have assembled a small team and have given them instructions to begin the process of identifying suitable lands for the relocation of the affected residents," Buchanan told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday. "I expect this process to be completed in three days."

He added: "Once the lands are identified, then it will take another three to four weeks to restore their dwelling situations."

Approximately 25 Whitehouse residents were left homeless after a demolition team from the ministry of water and housing flattened their homes.

Agreements

Water and Housing Minister Dr Horace Chang said that he was in dialogue with Buchanan with a view to relocating the residents.

"Once the property is identified then the residents will be resettled appropriately," Chang said.

He added: "We will assist the families. We are not going to have them out there in the cold."

Many of the residents, who are fisherfolk, have occupied the land for nearly 25 years, The Sunday Gleaner has been told.

The land is owned by the ministry of housing and the houses were constructed by the residents, who entered into agreements to pay the ministry monthly for the land.

The Sunday Gleaner understands that the residents had not been honouring their agreement to pay for the property monthly and that was when the ministry acted to remove them.

Yesterday, the Opposition People's National Party said it was "unconscionable that the Government would have acted in this manner and commiserates with the cries of the affected Jamaicans for the intervention by the prime minister and for redress with respect to the loss of property that has been caused by the demolition".

The persons affected in Friday's demolition are now living with families and friends.