PERSONS evicted during a pre-dawn raid from the Roaring River property in St Ann last June should be relocated to the nearby Beecher Town by the end of August this year, a housing ministry official told the Observer yesterday.

“The National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) has now began the serious work of preparing for the ultimate relocation of those persons directly affected at Roaring River as a result of last year’s removal exercise,” said Everton Pryce, director of special projects at the NHDC.

“The roads will be completed in four to six to weeks and by the end of August they (settlers) will be on the property,” Pryce said.

His disclosure came two days after Shahine Robinson, member of parliament for North East St Ann, called on the government, during her sectoral budget presentation, to honour its pledge to relocate the persons evicted from Roaring River last June.

Before day break on June 26 agents of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), stormed several dwellings that were illegally constructed on the property, damaging personal possessions in the process.

Anger at the eviction spilled over in violent protests and clashes between citizens and the security forces in the streets of St Ann. The events were played out against the background of a keenly fought by-election two months before, which Robinson won for the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

The eviction elicited a statement to parliament from the prime minister, who has portfolio reponsibility for the UDC. In the end, the evicted squatters received relief from state agencies and were allowed to return to their dwellings. In addition, government promised to relocate the affected persons.

“Up to this day, not one single person has been compensated or relocated despite repeated promises from officers of the National Housing Development Corporation and Operation PRIDE (government’s agency to address informal settlement),” Robinson told the House on Wednesday.

She urged the administration to “honour” its commitment to relocate persons who were subject to “systematic abuse and degrading treatment” and who, in her view, continue to live in “less than desirable circumstances”.

“Her intervention came at a very propitious time as we are now moving full speed ahead with the relocation exercise with respect to the proliferation of squatting in the Ocho Rios area generally,” Pryce told the Observer.

The NHDC, he said, would try to accommodate the 30 to 50 persons who were evicted last June among squatters from several sites in the parish who will be relocated at the 337-acre Beecher Town location.

A total of 3,000 service lots will be provided in the development, with phase one, comprising 1,000 lots, now getting off the ground.

According to the NHDC official, the Beecher Town scheme will be “an incremental type development under PRIDE”, which will involve “level one infrastructure work”. This includes the preparation (compressing and packing) of roadways and the provision of access to water and critical drainage.

“People are going to create a community now (and) we are taking them from a situation of degradation,” noted Pryce.

He stressed that only persons who have been residing in the parish for over six months, would be selected for relocation to Beecher Town. Persons who have recently moved unto squatter settlements throughout St Ann, he noted, would ultimately face eviction. The NHDC, he added, was utlising a list based on applications the agency has received and facilitated largely by MP Robinson.

While Pryce could not give the price of the lots, he disclosed that the beneficiaries would be required to deposit 10 per cent of the price of the land and the NHDC would provide a mortgage of up to 25 years for the remainder of the price.

In addition the agency will provide beneficiaries with a design plan to achieve uniformity and financing can be sought through the National Housing Trust, the NHDC or other sources of financing.

“We are not excluding anybody but there is a process. So we are not just picking up a man and put him on a lot and he cannot pay for it,” stressed the housing official.

“They have to be scored and (we) ensure that they live in the parish which makes sense because you might find that you are depriving people who are legitimately (qualified as) beneficiaries.”