MINISTRY of Housing and Water and Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), in their continued effort to develop the sector for people to realise their dreams of owning their own homes, are moving to allocate 700 more house lots by year-end.

Assisted by Minister of Housing and Water, Mr. Irfaan Ali, Mrs. Shirena Hussein and her family take a further step in realising their dream of owning their own home by picking their house lot. (Adrian Narine photo)

In that quest, 100, of the 200 to be distributed within that time at Non Pariel, East Coast Demerara, were distributed yesterday.

Minister of Housing and Water, Mr. Irfaan Ali, who addressed the allottees at his Brickdam Ministry, said there is a lot of unfinished work to be done in that period.

He said the Ministry had, earlier this year, set a target to disburse at least 1,500 lots and, to date, has surpassed that number by almost 100 per cent.

“So, although we can sit down and be satisfied with our accomplishment this year, we are not prepared to do that and we are hoping that, before the end of this year, which is less than 27 days from now, we are going to allocate a further 700…,” Ali said.

According to him, his ministry and CH&PA have been successful in getting the contractor to ready 500 lots, at Onderneeming, Essequibo Coast, for distribution, also before year-end.

Ali thanked those who waited patiently for their allocations and did not fall prey to vultures who seek to sell their lots and profiteer from what the ministry has allotted.

He said yesterday’s beneficiaries would have their pieces of land legally and mentioned that Non Pariel is one of the areas in the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) funded Second Low Income Settlements Programme.

Ali said an investment of $103M, this year, has been plugged into that area and, when the occupants go there, they would find that roads and pipelines have already been prepared and another $50M is being spent on the installation of electricity and water, to complete the final phase of infrastructure.

He reminded that his ministry is very strict with its time lines for the completion of homes.
LOANS
“You have waited a long time and those of you who are renting can now proceed to have your loans and, as your loans are granted, you would eliminate the need to pay rent. That rent can now pay for your own property that you would own in another 10 to 15 years,” Ali advised.

He pointed out that the fees paid for the house lots are, by no means, the real cost, as Government will have to subsidise more than 450 per cent and, although the allottees would be paying $100,000 each, the actual value of the land is approximately $550,000, after the cost of infrastructure is added.

“So when you go to the bank, the value of the land is not $100,000 although you would have paid a $100,000 – it is almost $550, 000,” Ali emphasised.

He said yesterday’s group was the first to benefit from the development of Non Pariel but the Ministry will be expanding it next year and has advertised for contractors to do infrastructural work to develop a further 3,000 plus house lots.

“Those advertisements would be closed on December 22 and, once the contractors are in place, in Region Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands), we are hoping that we will have available more than 4,000 lots for allocation next year,” Ali said.

He said that undertaking would help to take the Ministry to an overall 17,000 house lots that President Bharrat Jagdeo mandated for 2012.

“We stand with you in realising your dreams and I know you are happy and we are also very happy that we were able to serve you today,” he told the recipients gathered.