Residents close to Alutrint need to move

Yolandra John South Bureau
Saturday, May 23rd 2009
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopthesmelter/message/1171

The people living in 55 houses which are too close to the Alutrint smelter plant under construction must leave, despite complaints that the new homes built for them are sub-standard.

The National Energy Corporation made this clear on Thursday, in response to complaints by some of the residents of Square Deal Village, located north of the Union Industrial Estate.

The NEC's head of administration, Wendy Seow, said, "The corporation is going to continue to work with the villagers. However, for their own safety, they need to move and we are taking a humanistic approach to all of this."

The NEC is a subsidiary of the National Gas Company, and responsible for the Union Industrial Estate, on which preparations are being made for the billion-dollar aluminium smelter plant.

Scores of residents living in the buffer zones have been offered packages to leave.

Square Deal residents, many of them squatters, said that two months ago, 12 homeowners agreed to relocate. The others, according to Desmond Marshall, refused to leave because they were unhappy with the homes in Debe.

The families said they wanted homes in or around San Fernando because of work, transportation and education-related reasons.

Joseph said the residents were also unhappy that they would not immediately be given deeds to their homes, but would be asked to enter into a lease arrangement and pay $100 a month.

An official at ROW Services Ltd-given the task, by the NEC, of relocating the residents-declined to comment.

Last March, 12 squatting families accepted relocation and moved into their new homes.