The Ministry of Housing has issued a final notice to seven families who are occupying lands at Mocha/ Herstelling caneview area, calling on them to end what the Ministry terms an attempt to disrupt national development.

The Housing Ministry said the residents must put personal and political agendas aside and see the development vision that the government is working towards.

“The attempts by persons to disrupt government’s development program is nothing but mischievous and an attempt to shift focus. In keeping with the government’s mandate to ease traffic congestion by building new highways, the areas under illegal occupation will serve as an essential link for the continuation of the Second Phase of the Eccles to Great Diamond Four-Lane Highway,” the Ministry of Housing said in its final notice to the squatters.

The Ministry said that despite joint efforts by the Mocha Arcadia NDC and the Ministry of Housing, calling on the squatters to vacate, they remain uncooperative.

The Housing Ministry listed a sequence of interventions it made to get to its current positions— According to the Ministry, it began engaging with Mocha residents since 2008 and those interventions intensified from 2021.

“To date, 20 families have been relocated from Block ‘X’ Portion, Pln. Herstelling area and have since accepted compensation to the tune of million, while a remaining 7 continue to be defiant and make reasonable demands. Their actions have resulted in the staling of a massive development project, which upon completion will benefit thousands of Guyanese,” the Housing Ministry said.

The Housing Ministry said the government remains committed to working with the squatters as it works towards providing housing solutions for all. 

The Ministry further explained that it has demonstrated efforts to remain humane and calm in the circumstances.

Many of the persons have been living in the area for over a decade and have developed farms in the area. While they say they are willing to relocate, they want the relocation plan to also make lands available for them to continue their farming which is part of their livelihoods.

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