Court injunction clears way for govt. housing construction

The political chest beating over who controls a narrow strip of prime property near the BelChina Bridge continued today but the venue of the battle shifted from the dusty roadside to the cool air of the Supreme Court. Acting Chief Justice Troadio Gonzales granted the government an injunction which restrains the United Democratic Party or its supporters from interfering with official efforts to enter the property adjoining U.D.P. Headquarters. This means that workers from the Ministry of Housing are free to continue their project to build houses on the land which the U.D.P. claims belongs to the party, under a grant issued by the previous government. In a press release issued today the U.D.P. called the action a travesty of justice, claiming that the order was brought before the court through subterfuge by a specific officer at the Registry and that despite assurances from the acting Chief Justice that the U.D.P. would be served with notice of any action, the case was heard without any warning to the party or its lawyers. For his part Attorney General and Minister of Housing Dickie Bradley told News Five that under the law the government is fully entitled to enter and use Crown land which is under dispute and the injunction merely stops the U.D.P. from damaging the property, stealing materials or hindering the government from its work. Bradley added that it is his government’s intention to use the vacant government land for housing and construction would start very soon… as close as five feet away from the U.D.P. building. According to Bradley the entire grant by the previous government was illegal from the outset and if the U.D.P. wants to keep the land its headquarters now occupies it must negotiate a fair price to be paid to the Treasury. The land, given to the U.D.P. free of all cost by its own government in 1997, is valued at several hundred thousand dollars. Bradley told News Five that he would more fully explain government’s position at the beginning of his talk show, “One On One” tonight at eight o’clock.