In a constant effort to develop and improve the quality of services offered to the citizens of Guyana, the Ministry of Housing and Water and the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) continues to execute its ‘One Stop Shop’ exercise which facilitates the delivery of improved services in the housing sector. According to Chief Executive Officer at the CH&PA, Ms. Myrna Pitt, the housing Ministry maintains  this service to allow perspective home owners to expeditiously complete the transactions related to the process of home ownership, and more importantly to obtain the requisite information and advice from the financial and commercial sectors represented at these events.
She pointed out that at the CH&PA, they advocate for the user-based definition of quality and embrace the principle of being customer-focused, resulting in the constant review of their business processes with the aim of making them more efficient and effective.
“By extension, we position ourselves to provide improved services to the customers as we are committed to a process of continued development,” Ms. Pitt stated, adding , “in doing this, we share information with potential home owners for them to understand their role and function in this process.”
The prospective home owners are also provided with information regarding building standards and construction requirements, along with guidance on community development.
“It is important for there to be full understanding of the requirements, regulations and responsibilities of home ownership,” she imparted.
According to her, the establishment of housing schemes is a complex undertaking which requires an “inter-agency and inter-disciplinary approach”.
And so the CH&PA has adopted the integrated development planning approach as the medium through which housing areas are established and developed.
This approach, she revealed, has resulted in the establishment of an inter-agency coordinating committee which enables the planning and implementation of sustainable housing development projects and communities, with the participation of the residents in the community planning process.
Alluding to the benefits of continued collaboration between the Ministry of Housing and various Private Sector entities in the delivery of services through the ‘One Stop Shop’ initiative, Ms. Pitt said that through this support, the organizations continue to complement the efforts of the Ministry and the CH&PA in improving services within the housing sector.
One such participant and representative of a private financial institution, Ms. Nichola Sobers, Personal Banking Officer at Scotiabank, applauded the efforts of the Ministry of Housing for inviting and encouraging the partnerships with private sector institutions.
She pointed out that such collaboration serves to benefit all of the parties involved as it makes it easier for the impending home owners to gain access to financial information and advice in an informal setting, and it facilitates a broader customer base for the banking institutions as well as provides the Ministry of Housing with the opportunity to fulfill one of it objectives which is to collaborate with stakeholders for the development of sustainable communities.
Last year, approximately $7.5 billion was expended on the housing sector, resulting in a construction boom and an increase in occupancy rate.
One notable contributor to this performance was the revival of the One Stop Shop programme. During this time, 4,334 house lots and 4,257 land titles were processed and allocated.
For this year, several similar exercises have been conducted across the regions, with the most recent in Region three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara), where 600 lots were allocated, and the Schoon-ard housing scheme in Parfait Harmonie, where $3.5 billion has been invested over the past 10 years.