Sophia: from a squatter settlement to a housing scheme
Georgetown , GINA, September 3, 2004
A GINA Feature by Rekha Budhna
Sophia, Greater Georgetown, is one of the largest squatter settlements in the country to be converted into a flourishing housing scheme. Prior to Government's regularization process, the area was merely mud dams, bushes and small shacks.
Today, the community has been transformed into a housing scheme with beautiful houses, paved roads and proper but still developing infrastructure.
The ‘ Sophia Zone ' consists of nine distinct geographic areas. These are: Block ‘X' Liliendaal (Section A), Section ‘B' Pattensen, Section ‘C' Pattensen/Turkeyen, Section ‘D' Turkeyen. Section ‘E' Cummings Lodge ( Cummings Park ), Block ‘E' Sophia (Farmer's Group), Blocks ‘AA' and ‘BB' Sophia Plum Park , Block ‘F' (North Sophia) and Area ‘R' North Sophia.
The nine areas together contain 4,700 house lots, including reserve sites for play grounds and other community projects, and has an estimated population of 25,000.
Funds for upcoming developmental works are being provided through a loan and will cater for works in Sections A, B and C of Sophia. For the other areas in the Sophia Zone , another grant provided by the European Union will finance projects. Consultants will arrive shortly to design the projects and these are expected to commence between January and March next year.
The infrastructure development programme includes roads, drainage, drainage structures and bridges.
- For Block X Liliendaal (Section A), Section B Pattensen and Section C Pattensen/Turkeyen, works include 36 miles of main and intermediate roads with double and single bitumen surface finish; 53 miles of primary and secondary drainage; 79 culverts and four concrete bridges. It is expected that works will commence in the last quarter of this year.
- For Section D Pattensen/Turkeyen and Section E Cummings Lodge ( Cummings Park ) the programme of infrastructure works will include all roads, drainage and drainage structures and bridges for which work will commence in the first quarter of 2005.
- For Blocks AA and BB ( Plum Park ) and Block E (Farmers group) additional works on roads, drainage and drainage structures are to be completed in 2004/2005.
- For Block F (North Sophia) roads, drainage and drainage structures and bridges will commence by the end of 2004 and continue in 2005.
- For Block R (North Sophia), basic infrastructural works have been completed and upgrading works will be done in 2005.
Government will be implementing the Unserved Areas Electrification Programme by the first quarter 2005 and the entire Sophia Housing Area will be provided with electricity in Phase 1 of the programme.
Under this programme, residents will be required to pay a Beneficiary Contribution of $10,000 (exclusive of wiring of houses) and the remaining cost will be borne by the Government.
In order to benefit from this programme, residents will be required to regularize their occupancy and complete payment for their lots.
A programme for the improvement of water supply will be implemented and all areas will benefit from a complete water distribution network. Work will commence in the last quarter of 2004 and will include: the laying of approximately 6.9 km of PVC pipelines; the installation of a main transmission line from the Eastern Highway to improve the supply and pressure of water; and the construction of a water treatment plant to ensure the supply of safe and treated potable water.
Government has been providing educational, social and institutional facilities for the benefit of residents in the area, some of which are completed and work on others will commence in 2005.
A primary school was constructed at a cost of $110M. Other projects listed for Sophia include the construction of a Police Station, to commence in Section D Turkeyen later this year. The site for a Market Place has been identified at Section B Pattensen and works will commence later this year.
Land for the construction of a GT&T Exchange has been provided by the Ministry of Housing and Water. This facility will enhance and improve telephone services to residents in the area.
The construction of a Nursery School by the Ministry of Education will commence this year. A Playground to provide sports, social and recreations activities for the youths of Sophia has been developed, while the construction of a Health Centre and Vocational Centre for the Disabled in nearing completion at Section B Pattensen, and will be administered by the Ministry of Health.
The regularization of the Sophia Housing Area is far advanced with thousands of occupants receiving letters of allocation for their house lots and hundreds of titles already issued.
Progress over the years
In 1990, about 400 people moved into Sophia and squatted on the land, which was once used for the cultivation of rice and the rearing of fish. It was all swamp and mud when a group of persons decided to use the area for housing.
Prior to 1992, the demand for housing was growing at an astounding rate and people erected shacks on Government reserves and other unoccupied lands. This led to the establishment of a large number of squatter settlements across the country.
In 1992, when the present Government took office, there were about 120 squatter settlements, both large and small. One of the first tasks of the Ministry of Housing was to register the existing squatter settlements and put a stop to squatting as it is illegal.
Before 1992, nothing was done by the previous Government to help the people in squatting areas, especially those in Sophia.
Government often uses the payment for house lots to develop the areas, but in Sophia many residents have not paid up their fees. The actual cost for each 40 x 80 plot of land there is $700,000. However, the Administration is asking residents to pay only $58,000.
Regularization
Over the years, the population in Sophia increased to about 5000 households. Residents were living in the area in a disorganized way and there was no drainage system. There was an urgent need for regularization of the then squatter settlement.
Recognizing the urgent need for a housing project, Government embarked on a squatter regularization programme which was recommended in 1993. At that time, Sophia comprised mud dams. The trenches were clogged and there were serious problems with drainage and irrigation.
Two surveys were done in 1995, the Site and Occupational and the Cadastral surveys. Residents in the area were told to fill out application forms in accordance with the procedures at the Ministry of Housing and Water.
Recently, a group of residents were given their letters of allocation, since the area has now been regularized. Minister of Housing and Water Shaik Baksh noted that the occasion was momentous, since the area is the last of the nine areas in the Sophia Zone to be regularized. He stated that the area has developed a lot during the past years and now there are over 5,000 households in Sophia.
Squatter settlements are plots of land that were not surveyed and do not have basic infrastructure. In many cases, the land is overcrowded and create health-related problems.
The Government has improved a large number of squatter settlements and regularized them into housing schemes. The basic infrastructural work, including the supply of potable water, the construction of drains, culverts and roads, has been a high point in the Government's agenda to improve squatter settlements. Some residents of the regularized squatter settlements have also received titles to their lands.
The Ministry of Housing has been encouraging residents to maintain healthy environments in housing areas. Residents are urged to dispose of garbage in a proper manner and construct flush toilets instead of pit latrines.
Through Government funding, the CH&PA has been developing new housing schemes and upgrading squatter settlements countrywide with proper infrastructure, including roads, potable water supplies, and drainage structures.
The process of squatter settlements regularization starts when residents make requests to the Ministry of Housing and Water for their area to be regularized and for infrastructure to be established. After this, the Ministry of Housing would visit the area and carry out surveys to identify areas for roads, drains and water supply.
After the surveys are effected, the Ministry would then move to provide the necessary social services needed.
In the case of new areas, land allocation starts with the selection of land for a new housing scheme, then potential homeowners apply for lots at the CH&PA. Priority is given to families with the largest number of children, after which lots are awarded to those families with fewer children.
Once a family is allocated a lot, it has three months to pay one third of the price. It is then given an additional nine months to complete payment. If an allottee fails to make the final payment, the lot reverts to the Government. Persons whose lots have been taken back will then be placed on a register for a later allocation when they are ready to commence building their houses.
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