DCA investigates YIDA land clearing

Deputy Chief Town & Country Planner Clement Antonio said inspectors were sent to the site of the YIDA International development near Guiana Island yesterday after concerns were raised over the widespread clearing of brush.
The alarm was raised by environmentalist Foster Derrick and others after an historic Arawak site was reportedly destroyed during the clearing.
OBSERVER media understands while the clearing exercise may have been within the law, the developers failed to inform the Development Control Authority and the Environment Division. The two government departments are supposed to be informed so that staff can be sent to monitor the clearing in the protected marine site known as the North East Marine Management Area (NEMMA).
“I visited the property and I was totally blown away by the fact that they had bulldozed hundreds of acres,” Derrick said. “I’m not a surveyor or anything, but it was a huge, huge area. Right next to the mangrove they had removed all of the vegetation except for a few odd trees.
“I was also being shown an Arawak site that was previously untouched and had not been surveyed in any way … apparently, it is a very large Arawak site and that had been bulldozed,” he added.
Historian Dr Reginald Murphy has previously advocated for the Arawak site to be protected until it can be properly examined by a team of archaeologists.