Dili, Tuesday, January 21, 2025. The eviction carried out by the Secretary of State for Toponymy and Urban Organization-SEATOU in the capital Dili, became a major concern for opposition Members in the National Parliament.

According to the Declaration of the FRETILIN Bench, the eviction that the IX Constitutional Government has been implementing through SEATOU to demolish the community’s homes in Dili has given a bad image to children, especially students who must lose their studies. The affected community is made up of 288 households in Fomento II; The Government has not only demolished the community’s houses, but is also harming the future of young people, because many young people have lost their studies, and many do not have their own place to study. On the same occasion, the Khunto Bench declared that the eviction that SEATOU carried out on the riverbank and by the sea in the communities in Fomento and Bebonuk, generated pros and cons in the different classes of society.

 Why do people want to make a living in the city of Dili and not in the mountains? The State is requested to guarantee the well-being of the affected people, when they return to the municipalities, to guarantee their dignified residence as enshrined in article 58 of the C-RDTL. 

Likewise, the CNRT Bench, as the Government Bench, responded to the polemics over the eviction carried out by the 9th Constitutional Government through SEATOU against occupants in public spaces, State properties and risky areas in Dili and municipalities.

CNRT expresses its appreciation to the Government, through the Dili Municipal Authority and SEATOU, which have taken rapid measures to evacuate and evict the population living in risky areas. 

This eviction has generated dissatisfaction among the public, especially the occupants, but the affected population has behaved with maturity and wisdom and has collaborated to comply with current regulations and laws. 

Eviction is not only to improve and beautify the city, but it is even more important to remove the population from the risk for their lives, and avoid the occupation of State property, so that the State can use them for common interest and the Government is committed to organizing the city; Dili is the capital of the country and must promote the safety of nature with space for circulation  and provide  green spaces to absorb rainwater so that it becomes “engines of economic growth” for Timor-Leste . 

Decree-Law No. 33/2008 and the first amendment to Decree-Law no. 3/2024, Hygiene and Public Order Law on the organization of public spaces, including the Basic Law on Spatial Planning on the special plan for urban cities; these laws allow for the systematic revitalization of urban cities; Everyone understood well that for very long time, many public spaces have been  informally privatized by citizens, the deliberate action, the occupation of risk areas (inside the river) have become a very worrying phenomenon. 

People also build houses in these public spaces, making the capital Dili and the municipal towns disorganized; part of our population builds houses on trottoirs and ditches, builds on hills, builds houses on rivers and riverbanks, on beaches and many build illegally on state property. 

The 9th Constitutional Government does not want to sacrifice its people, which is stated in the government program to implement the urban execution plan related with the impacts on the use and spatial planning of the territory within 5 years. 

The occupation of public spaces and state property will cause prejudice to the management and planning of the construction of roads and bridges, the distribution of drinking water and   electricity to the population.

While the population living on the river poses risk to people’s lives, when the volume of river water is high, it can cause damage and natural disasters, as happened on April 4, 2021, which resulted in more than 100 deaths.   At that time, most people turned to Maun Bo’ot Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão for help, even though Maun Bo’ot was not in power at the time. These events gave rise to the moral obligation of the 9th Constitutional Government to protect the population from the risk to their lives and to improve and reorganize the country’s capital. 

In response to these political statements, the government’s representative, the Vice-Minister for Parliamentary Affairs-VMAP, His Excellency Adérito Hugo da Costa, emphasized that the legal regimes applied during 22 years during which the government has been in power, from the first government to the current government, “the government will continue to carry out evictions and repossessions based on the laws that exist; the government has presented the proposed law “Measures for the Protection of urban legality” to complete the regime or laws in force’. 

He added that Members of Parliament should not politicize: “He called on Members of Parliament to not politicize, but to speak based on the existing legal regimes; Members of Parliament politicize because they don’t have the will to make laws, these laws aren’t meant to be implemented and they need practice instead of just talking”, said the VMAP.  

He also called on parliamentarians to pay attention to the law “Measures for the Protection of Urban Legality” if the law benefits the people and the nation, so that the National Parliament can approve it quickly for the government to implement. 

On the other hand, the interventions and political declarations of the FRETILIN bench and the other benches can help the government to implement the law.

Compensation will continue to be paid to state property for public welfare use in Dili and all municipalities.