– Second LIS Programme to develop 20 new housing schemes
The partnership between the Ministry of Housing and Water and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) yesterday saw the signing of five contracts for the execution of the Second Low Income Settlement (LIS) Programme, which will see the establishment of 20 new housing schemes added to the 16 that were completed under the First LIS Programme.
In his brief remarks, Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, lauded the partnership with the IBD which has enabled significant achievement for the Ministry under the programme.
He said that the success so far has been possible because of the collaboration and team work between the IDB and the Ministry’s Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).
The contracts, which amounted to almost $800M, will see the execution of infrastructural works at Belle West (phase ll), No. 76 Village (phase ll), Onderneeming (phase l), Recht-Door-Zee (phase 1) and Block D’ Bath Settlement (phase l). This project would impact 2,741 houselots, benefiting 11,238 persons.
In addressing the contractors, Minister Ali maintained performance is the only indicator that would ensure future engagements. He reminded them that they are accountable to the public.
He also urged them not to discourage the involvement of the communities in the execution of the projects, since the service that they (contractors) provide will have direct impact on the lives of residents.
Minister Ali asserted that weather conditions and other such excuses will not be accepted and pointed out that they need to invest in enhancing their capability work under various circumstances, particularly as it relates to working at nights.
All the projects are expected to be completed before the end of the year.
The Second LIS Programme is considered a model, as this is the first time that the Ministry is embarking on a project valued at US $27.1M without the aid of consultants.
“Everything is done in house through institutional strengthening and experience derived from LIS-1 and continuous support that was garnered for the execution of LIS-2. This approach would be saving millions in resources, the Housing Minister said.
The programme has been designed with a life cycle period of five years; however, the CH&PA is moving to complete it within a three-year period, thereby saving another significant sum on commitment fees.
Moreover, the IDB has been working closely with the Authority to ensure that the three-year target is met.
The contracts that were signed are the penultimate batch of projects in terms of infrastructural development. Another batch, which would include phases two and three of Amelia’s Ward, Bartica, and Recht-Door-Zee, is expected to be advertised before the end of the year.
Thus far for 2010, approximately US $5M has been spent on the programme and it is anticipated that the planned expenditure will go far beyond this amount, at both the IDB and the Ministry levels.
In addition to the infrastructural aspect, a lot of important project components are ongoing in the Ministry. These include the Poor Homes initiative, which is transforming people’s living conditions, particularly those that are vulnerable, into community-oriented landscape. By the end of 2010, the Ministry will be completing approximately 100 Poor Homes at a cost of more than $100M.
Additionally, the hinterland aspect of the programme will see the completion of about 50 homes.
“The whole aspect of LIS-2 is to learn from LIS-1 and one of the things that we have learnt is that parallel development is necessary,” Minister Ali said.
He explained that the Ministry has been establishing very large housing schemes, with infrastructure such as roads, water, and electricity.
In this regard, several wells have been dug under the LIS-2 programme. So far, wells have been established at Tuschen, Parfait Harmonie and Amelia’s Ward.
The Minister said that the housing sector has been a very dynamic one that has been constantly changing its outlook from purely Government-driven to Government-private partnerships to a few strictly private interventions and public professional group partnerships as well.
“The whole landscape of the housing programme is changing rapidly; and in responding to those changes, the housing policy is critical in charting the way forward as we envisage what the building market would look like in the future,” he said.
The Ministry has also launched the subsidy programme for home improvement and enhancement, through which resources have been allocated for very poor households which have met beneficiary requirements.
Once qualified, $200,000 will be allocated to each household to be spent on home improvement, such as construction of septic tanks with the aim of raising the standard of living for the vulnerable population.
“This has been the thrust of the Government to ensure that there is equitable development and to ensure that there is no room for disparity in the development pathway,” Minister Ali said.
He added that the housing programme is moving at an aggressive pace and will be meeting its target of 5,000 houselots this year. However, he said there is still room for improvement.
The LIS-1 programme, which was completed in 2007, has been successful in accompanying the land divestiture process that Guyana initiated in 1992 and benefited about 19,000 households over the seven years of its execution. (GINA)