Just re­cent­ly I took a dri­ve through Va­len­cia and was shocked at the pace with which land is be­ing il­le­gal­ly oc­cu­pied, and the same ap­plied to the rate that build­ings were be­ing erect­ed and the amount of for­est that is be­ing cut down to ac­com­mo­date this ac­cel­er­at­ed de­vel­op­ment. In ad­di­tion to which every dwelling has a wa­ter and elec­tric­i­ty sup­ply. What amazes me most is that it seems as though the state is pow­er­less to halt or slow down this ac­tion, or maybe it could not care.

In ref­er­ence to my sub­ject, there is a par­cel of land on that same Va­len­cia Road with signs in­di­cat­ing "State lands for­est re­serve..no tres­pass­ing" and just mere me­tres be­hind the sign dwellings have sprung up. I con­sid­er this a per­fect ex­am­ple of mock­ing the state, and hence the rea­son why so we are in such a predica­ment to­day. There has been a break­down in our coun­try as no one re­spects au­thor­i­ty and the law and flouts them with im­puni­ty.

If I may add, clos­er to the junc­tion on Va­len­cia Road and To­co Road there is a large area of pro­tect­ed for­est in­di­cat­ed by a sign from the Forestry Di­vi­sion on two tall sign posts. The front of the land may be plant­ed with fi­cus trees but I am not sure. Well now there is a gal­vanise shed neat­ly tucked away in a cor­ner and the same sign is cov­er­ing part of the shed. I do hope it's a shel­ter for forestry work­ers as I would be ap­palled to think oth­er­wise.

I took the time to write this let­ter hop­ing that it could reach the eyes and ears of some­one with the pow­er to put a stop to this, and if it can­not be done at least des­ig­nate a bar­ren area and al­low the com­mu­ni­ties to de­vel­op with­out fur­ther dam­age to our forests and the nat­ur­al habi­tat of our wildlife which are al­ready in dan­ger in oth­er parts of the coun­try.

Ja­son Karam,

Wood­brook