THE URBAN Development Corporation (UDC) has warned that it is prepared to take "drastic action" to remove squatters who have entered the Barrett Hall property in St. James in the past five months.
The UDC says several illegal new structures are being constructed by unauthorised persons. The structures were put up after a community meeting on November 11 of last year where persons were told of plans for the area to regularise the then existing illegal occupants "and were expressly requested by the Prime Minister not to begin any new construction on the property," the UDC said in a statement.
"The property is being developed jointly by the Ministry of Water and Housing and the UDC to facilitate, among other things, those who were residents at November 2000. already the Ministry has cleared roadways, put in sewer lines and started to survey lots, with a view to regularising the tenure of persons living on the property.
"Despite these plans however, unauthorised persons have continued to move onto the property and construct buildings, thereby continuing the illegal activities and impeding the progress of the development," the statement read.
Recently built structures which are in clear violation of the development, will be removed, said the UDC, adding that the development could not proceed in an orderly way if the illegal activity is allowed to continue.
