By Leonardo Blair, Staff ReporterAPPROXIMATELY 250 families in the squatter community of Portmore Villas, St. Catherine, are now crying foul after being served eviction notices by the Squatter Management Unit of the Ministry of Water and Housing.
The residents, some of whom have lived in the community for more than 10 years, say they were served notices last month even though they were involved in a settlement and regularisation programme through Operation Pride and have contributed more than $9 million to the Portmore Villas Provident Society.
They also claim that since they began making contributions of between $200-$300 weekly to the society one year ago, a portion of their contribution is now missing and feel that the project to give them proper land settlements has been abandoned.
However in a telephone interview managing director of the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC), Christopher Honeywell, said the government has already spent $91 million on the project and has no intention of abandoning the project.
He said however while some contributors to the Provident Society have received eviction notices, most of the squatters had paid no contributions and are in fact illegal squatters.
He explained that a problem arose late last year when the NHDC started processing the residents from the once illegal settlement.
Some Provident Society members who had been paying on a regular basis to get the land titles in their name eventually, realised they were in jeopardy because people were taking up lands "from left, right and centre". He said they decided to start staking out other lots of land too. "They created a crowding in the latter part of 2000 and we had to serve the notices because it was a steadily escalating trend," Honeywell said.
Legitimate contributors to the Provident Society who were served notices will be relocated to their registered lots and forced to give up lots they have taken over, he said. However those persons that have assumed ownership of the lands and have made no contributions will "have to go".
Mr. Honeywell also admitted that some $3 million of the money contributed by the residents of Portmore Villas could not be accounted for. He declined to comment further saying the matter was being investigated by the police.
"We have had some preliminary reports and our initial accounts would tend to suggest that there is a discrepancy in terms of the full sums stated to have been paid to the Provident Society executives as against what was paid over to us," said Honeywell.
Residents however need not worry about these funds, assured, Mr. Honeywell, as those who can prove, with the appropriate documentation, their contributions to the Provident Society will be credited.
"Even if we don't see coming from the Provident Society to us that same amount, we will credit them to that extent that they can prove it," the director said.
He added that since the irregularity in the accounts was discovered they have decided that no more payments should be made to the project through the Provident Society.
"We have set up easy-access bank accounts throughout the island in several banks and all the society members have to do is to attend the bank make their deposit and they will get a deposit slip which is stamped by the bank and the money comes directly to our consolidated accounts here so that the middle man is thereby eliminated," said Honeywell.
While the director had said he wouldn't want to speculate on that just how much money was missing he said that NHDC accounts show approximately $5.8 million which means more than $3 million is still unaccounted for.
"It's not the easiest thing to get records from the provident society. The executive of the provident society was not keeping proper records," he had said.
Approximately 1,200 families are now living in the squatter community.
However according to Mr. Honeywell the plan they have for Portmore Villas identifies only 843 lots which include, residential, recreational and commercial lots.
Three hundred and seventy nine residential lots have already been completed under phase 1 of the project and another 179 is now being completed.
Mr. Honeywell also pointed out that the Providence Society exists independently of the NHDC and they have have no legal obligation to make restitution to the squatters.
"What we have said though is that the Operation Pride programme is a government programme and to the extent that things like this may happen where people are less than honest or may make mistakes in terms of how they keep their books. If we have a programme which we have given our name and endorse even if an aspect of the programme is external to us we need to attempt to regularise and level the playing field because we cannot allow people to say the PRIDE programmes integrity is tainted," he said.
