- Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
A pile of asbestos-laden pipes at the side of a house in Succaba Pen, St. Catherine.
Francine Black, Staff Reporter
MORE THAN 1,000 residents in the Burke Heights Road (Succaba Pen) community in Old Harbour, St. Catherine continue to face serious risks of developing asbestosis (hardening of the lungs) and lung cancer as attempts to remove deadly asbestos material from their yards have been delayed by arguments over land ownership.
Several agencies willing to underwrite the $10 million needed to remove the fibrous material which has been linked to asbestosis and lung cancer from the community are now hesitant to put up the funds because of the uncertainty over who owns the land.
"The agencies do not want to clean the community only for it to be handed back over to the Government," Professor Ishenkumba Kahwa, asbestos researcher at University of the West Indies (UWI) told The Sunday Gleaner.
The agencies want some clear evidence such as titles handed over to residents that would indicate that the land belongs to them.
The residents of the squatter community have attempted to regularise their status on numerous occasions; however, they said they were told by officers from the National Housing Development Cor-poration (NHDC) that the material will have to be removed before they can gain ownership.
Operation PRIDE officers first made an attempt in 1997 to clean up the community and also in January of this year telling residents to remove the asbestos in order to gain ownership of the land. This, they said, was necessary as the Government could not sell the people "contaminated land".
However, attempts by The Sunday Gleaner to get a comment about the current status of the plans from NHDC were unsuccessful.
TARDY PAYMENTS
Everard Warmington, Member of Parliament for South West St. Catherine, which includes Succaba Pen, said indications were that the delay was due to the tardiness of the residents to pay up their deposits, which are necessary to get the process going.
"First they (NHDC) say everybody didn't pay their deposit and I met with them (residents) and a large number of them who had not paid have since gone in and paid their money," he said.
According to Mr. War-mington, this was sometime last year, but since then he is not aware of any change. "I have no knowledge of what is going on there now. I have none at all," he said.
In November last year, the residents raised $15,000 to have two trucks remove the asbestos laden pipes from their community to the Riverton City landfill.
This, however, raised health concerns because disturbing the material would cause the fibrous material to multiply into more fibres.
Despite the health risks, the residents insist on living in the area and have been using the pipes as foundations for their homes, fencing, flower pots, drains and other purposes.
CLEAN-UP STRATEGIES
Currently, a proposal outlining the clean-up programme is being developed by Professor Kahwa. He noted, however, that even if the residents were able to gain ownership of the land, he could choose a less problematic clean-up method.
"I think I will be pursuing the option of cleaning around their homes. Under the circumstances that is the more practical option," Professor Kahwa said.
The other option, which he chose to abandon, required the temporary relocation of residents while the area was cleaned. This option would incur additional costs and raise additional political issues, Professor Kahwa said.
A section of the settlement is also owned by a private individual who the residents say has given his portion of the land to them. "The residents say they were given the land; however, they need some form of documentation to support this," Professor Kahwa said.
The proposal being developed is the second in over 10 years since the asbestos pipes where found in the community.
In 1997, a plan was devised to clean up the community. How-ever, it, too, was abandoned because of a similar delay. According to Professor Kahwa, this is why the funding agencies need something more substantive before initiating the process.
"They have been doing something for sometime now," he pointed out.
The Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) is one of the organisations which have expressed an interest in funding the clean-up, said a clear indication from the NHDC was necessary as the clean-up programme requires their collaboration.
