Middle-class’ lots to cost more

http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2007-05-13/news6.html 

Ex-sugar workers want to know why the Government did not consider them as recipients for some 2,000 prime residential lots of Caroni (1975) Ltd developed by the Estate Management Business Development Company (EMBDC). 
 
These lots, in four areas—Orange Field, Balmain, Factory Road, Chaguanas, and Montserrat—are to be sold to middle-income earners of the public, through the Housing Development Corporation (HDC).

Confirming this new development in the allocation process of Caroni lands yesterday, Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Senator Christine Sahadeo, said the 2,000 lots in the four areas would be sold at a “considerably higher price” than the $20,000 to $30,000 a lot being offered to former Caroni workers.

Sahadeo, in a telephone interview, said the HDC would set the criteria and conditions for the sale of the land to the public and would make the relevant announcements shortly.
Assuring that all ex-Caroni employees who applied for housing lots would be given lands, Sahadeo said initially, slightly more than 7,000 lots were to be developed for the VSEP-availed sugar workers, of whom there were just over 5,000 applicants.

In an immediate comment on this new development, Rudy Indarsingh, head of the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union (ATSGWTU) has questioned claims by Sahadeo that ex-sugar workers would be given priority treatment as regards allocation of Caroni lands.
And the ex-sugar workers themselves are questioning why they were not given lands in any of these four areas. Several ex-sugar workers visited the Guardian’s Chaguanas office last week to complain about crime at Roopsingh Road,Waterloo—one of the areas where lots are being allocated—and said they should have been given lots at Factory Road instead.

The ex-sugar workers who have been given lots at Roopsingh Road, Waterloo said a growing crime problem was making this site undesirable. They said that with the closure of Caroni (1975) Ltd, squatters from various parts of T&T moved into the area and that crime has become a problem and that a Crimestoppers neighbourhood watch sign was even stolen from the area earlier this year.

The ex-sugar workers were fearful that the criminal element would steal building materials, which they noted was not exactly cheap or easy to come by. And they were also concerned about illegal drugs and associated behaviours which they said were not conducive to a healthy neighbourhood.

Yesterday, Sahadeo insisted that there was transparency in the process of allocating lands to the ex-sugar workers and noted that if a particular site was oversubscribed, the recipients of lots could choose other lots at a different site or participate in a lot-swapping programme organised by Caroni.

Indarsingh questioned why lots at the four sites were not made available to ex-sugar workers.
 
“Sahadeo, in her speech to ex-workers two weeks ago at Woodford Lodge, assured that ex-Caroni workers would be given priority to lands before any distribution is to take place to the public. Where is the priority, Madam Minister? Why are these lands being held back?
 
“Is the Government saying that former sugar workers are not good enough to live in an upscale community and be given some dignity in their lives, or is it that the Government plans to give these lands to their friends and family?
 
“Who will oversee the application process at the HDC? Will this process be done with fairness and equity or will nepotism reign supreme?”
Indarsingh said the union has been bombarded by former sugar workers who have said they do not want land at Roopsingh Road, but at Factory Road.
 
“If it is that these lands were initially developed for the former sugar workers, why is it that they are now being denied this?” he asked.

Contending that the decision to sell lands at the four sites amounted to “continued discrimination” of sugar workers, Indarsingh said he would be meeting shortly with attorney Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj to discuss this new twist of events.
Maharaj is representing a group of ex-sugar workers in a judicial review matter in the High Court concerning the non-receipt of lands promised them by the Government.

 Indarsingh contended that the whole question of politics has come into the distribution of lands, that “lands in these prime locations would be allocated to PNM party card holders.”
Reiterating that Caroni’s residential lots were supposed to be distributed ex-Caroni workers first in terms of where they had applied for land, Indarsingh said:
“The time has come for ex-Caroni workers to be mobilised to make their voices be heard on this land matter.”
 
— Reporting by Adrian Boodan