fp Turks and Caicos

After receiving a briefing from the Ministry of Environment and District Administration, the His Excellency the Gov. Gordon Wetherell said the “serious problem” of illegal settlements was finally going to be dealt with.

The Department of Environment and Coastal Resources reported to the Advisory Council at its meeting April 13 on the growing problem of illegal settlements in the bush on Providenciales.

In November 2009, the government began tearing down buildings illegally built on Crown land in the Five Cays area, but only unoccupied structures were targeted. Issues raised on how to deal with occupied structures, including prosecution for fraud in some cases, required more time to deal with, the government said at the time.

Some 18 months later, several individuals have been prosecuted, but the problem continues to plague the government.

The makeshift shelters are mainly in the forested areas on Providenciales, according to the DECR. The ministry said the settlements can cause problems such as deforestation, forest fires, health and security issues.

Illegal settlements “generally lack proper sanitation, pose health, fire and environmental hazards, as well undermine the government’s ability to establish well-planned subdivisions and make future upgrading of these areas more costly and more difficult,” the government stated in 2009.

After receiving an update on the current scale of the problem as well as various aspects of the complexity of the issue, the council requested the ministry to develop a plan of action for implementation by a team to be created, drawing from all interested departments.

“This is a serious problem, and now with resources available we can get to further grips with it,” the governor said in a press briefing April 13.

A solution is not simple, and the problem crosses several agencies including immigration, law enforcement, environmental health and a number of others. “It is a wide ranging problem with has a number of different aspects to it,” the governor said.

“We are now identifying resources in both a mix of expertise and finance that are required to resolve the problem, to establish a dedicated task force where people can work full time on this and deal with it,” he said.

The Crown Land Illegal Occupation Ordinance passed in 2008 made it illegal for anyone to occupy, build structures on, or abandon vehicles on Crown land. Summary conviction is punishable by a fine of $10,000 or to imprisonment for six months, and upon conviction on indictment to a fine of $50,000 or to imprisonment for two years, or to both fine and imprisonment.

Those guilty can also be forced to pay for removal of anything illegal from Crown land. The government issued warnings in June 2009 and again in October 2009 that the ordinance would be strictly enforced. Two cases were reported in early 2010 of individuals being prosecuted for crimes related to illegal settlements.