Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster - GFDRR

housing, they more readily accepted the financial
responsibilities later.
What did not work in the process of resettling
people in the upgraded favelas?
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Cooperation between the secretariat and firms
hired to perform services (street lighting, public
transportation and security) did not fully develop
in the time agreed upon; thus, families who were
moved to rental housing during the works phase
were not resettled on schedule.
There was a gap between the time the urbanization
project was prepared and its implementation.
No environmental education program was created
for the community to develop new options with
respect to garbage disposal.
9.3 Expropriation and Cash
Compensation
Unlike the option to resettle in housing complexes, the
one that involved cash compensation or expropriation
was conducted without a specific plan to guide the process.
As a result, the expropriations and compensation
payments were processed through the municipalities’
standard procedures.
A key lesson was that authorities should have attached
the same importance to the cash compensation option
as to the resettlement option. Experience suggests that
moving low-income populations to housing complexes
is less problematic than compensating residents for the
value of their houses, either with funds or replacement
houses. Despite the difficulties of resettling families into
large complexes, they always receive better homes than
they previously had, which cannot always be guaranteed
in the compensation option.
The final report on expropriations (of owners affected
by projects similar to the streams canalization program)
recommended the following:
a. The international organizations’ financing the projects
should pay more attention to the expropriation
processes, so as to achieve a serious commitment
between the parties and also provide mechanisms
and instruments for monitoring and managing the
process. It might also be useful if the loans included
funds with which to finance the expropriations, so
as not to depend solely on the availability of local
counterpart funds.
b. If it is not feasible to include the costs of expropriations
in the budget, the multi-lateral financial institutions
could require, from the time the contract is
concluded, a guarantee that funds will be available
to avoid interruptions in the expropriation process,
which create difficulties in meeting schedules for the
project’s civil works.
c. A detailed expropriation plan should be designed,
based on a census and socio-economic study of the
target population. The plan should include all of the
activities in line with the civil works schedule.
d. The expropriation plan needs to guarantee fair payment
for the properties involved, so that the amount
the displaced families receive will be enough to purchase
a comparable property.
e. It is essential to anticipate schedules of actions that
can be implemented in a timely fashion and thereby
facilitate the movement of families as the construction
begins. This will help them avoid losses caused
by lack of income and any activities they have to suspend.
f. It is vital to include communication actions and
negotiating techniques into the expropriation process
to provide answers to queries and exhaust all
options for acquiring properties by friendly, rather
than judicial means.
g. The entities responsible for expropriations must
have adequate human and financial resources. Also,
an instrument should be designed to regulate the
administrative procedures for expropriating real estate;
it should not allow the process to begin without
guarantees that the funds needed for the compensations
are available.
This case study offers valuable lessons about different
resettlement options. It also shows the risks of underestimating
such a complex program.
56 Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster: Experiences from Latin America