Dazzell Scheme residents receive Land Titles

Sep 29, 2009 News

More than 160 residents of Dazzell Housing Co-operative Society received land titles last Sunday. The action came more than six years since the formation of the Co-operative. Addressing the recipients and invitees at the handing over ceremony, Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, said that the journey to development has just begun.

Ministers Irfaan Ali and Manzoor Nadir join the recipients of the landtitles.

Ali said that it was a special day not only for the community but for him because of the many struggles the society endured to reach that point.

He reminded the gathering of the previous society that corruption and other irregularities stymied the development of the community. The Minister said that he is committed to ensuring the remaining members receive there titles by June 2010.

According to him, with development there must be sacrifices and some amount of displacement. Residents must be accommodating.

He said that the community has about 800 members. Only 600 have regularised their status in the area.

For the remainder that have not regularised themselves, he said that they are squatters. He implored them to come forward and talk to his Ministry. “No matter what the circumstances, the Ministry will try to assist.”

He said this is necessary since with every piece of infrastructure that is placed in the community the equity value goes up and with every squatter that takes up residence, conversely it goes down.

The Minister told the gathering that the community has gone through rapid changes over the last five years. However, he said that he will be the first to admit that Government needs to make rapid investment in the scheme to change the infrastructural landscape of the area.

To loud applause he added that government has already approached the Basic Needs Trust Fund for assistance in developmental work in the area.

He was cautious, telling them that they should not expect development instantly but see it as continuous and incremental.

Speaking in the capacity as President of the Co-operative, Clive Nurse, Deputy Chief Labour Officer at the Ministry of Labour, said that he was pleased to be associated with the society.

Recalling that he took over as President of the body at a time when it was in a sad state of affairs and persons pessimistic about its success, he said that six years later the community has received something from its country.

He said that he listened to horror stories of persons paying monies for house lots under the previous co-operative and never received a square foot of land. Such stories drove him to take up the mantle to fix what was a situation common to many co-operatives across the country.

He is hopeful that in a few years time all members will have their living status regularised so that the community can receive the development that it deserves.

He called on the community to unite and move its development forward. The community of Dazzell Scheme has been in existence for over ten years and has close to 1,000 households there.