As 2011 budget debate continues…
MINISTER of Housing and Water Mr. Irfaan Ali yesterday debunked PNCR Member of Parliament Mr. Aubrey Norton, who said government has no plan for the housing sector and that race is still a factor in the selection of housing areas and the allocation of lots. Norton, speaking immediately before the minister yesterday, stated there is need for “a comprehensive housing plan when developing housing schemes.”  He said too that there is an absence of properly built roads or no roads at all, the absence of proper drainage and the lack of other basic infrastructure.

Further, Norton challenged the minister to furnish the names and photographs of house lots recipients in Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara. He said there is need for transparency and fairness in the allocation of lots. Norton’s implication that race played a part in determining allottees was a clear one.

Norton also implied that the staff of the Ministry of Housing was not professional in performing the functions of planning and implementing “in keeping with the policies defined by the government.”

This the minister debunked, saying that he is confident that in 2011, the ministry and the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) will exceed the set target of 7,000 house lots, as outlined in Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh’s budget speech.

Ali emphasized that this will be possible through the hard work and coordinated efforts of the team. “This team will deliver long before the end of the year…we will make it better to ensure that every single Guyanese benefit from the housing programme,” he said.

QUOTE:“Mr. Speaker, there is the budget theme of ‘Let’s make Guyana Tomorrow, Possible Today’ that has been mashed up because of persons like the honourable member, Mr. Aubrey Norton, a man who still resides in the past and who still sees everything in this country from the glasses of a separatist window and from the lens of division and does not believe in togetherness and unity…I am convinced, and so too must be every Guyanese after this presentation, that the PNC with Mr. Aubrey Norton, is heading back down the road to the past.” – Minister Irfaan Ali

The minister said: “Mr. Speaker, there is the budget theme of ‘Let’s make Guyana Tomorrow, Possible Today’ that has been mashed up because of persons like the honourable member, Mr. Aubrey Norton, a man who still resides in the past and who still sees everything in this country from the glasses of a separatist window and from the lens of division and does not believe in togetherness and unity.

“I am convinced, and so too must be every Guyanese after this presentation, that the PNC with Mr. Aubrey Norton, is heading back down the road to the past,” Ali declared.

The minister said the PPP/C administration has set a solid foundation upon which the future of Guyana would be built.

“Allow me to congratulate Dr. Ashni Singh and the staff of the Ministry of Finance in the presentation of a budget that speaks directly to the needs of the people. Mr. Speaker, the very fact that every single opposition member so far has acknowledged the budget to be an ‘elections budget’ points to the single important issue:  That they all accept this budget as one that touches the masses of the people. They all accept this budget as one that could influence people in the right direction and that is to support the government which has brought good to the people over the last five years,” he said.

“Mr. Speaker, let me say this, when a Government is elected something has to be wrong with that Government if every budget they prepare does not speak to its manifesto that would guarantee its re-election. So, not only this budget but every budget is one aimed at improving the lives of the people to ensure that we are re-elected and we have no apologies for that. Mr. Speaker, may I guarantee the honourable member (Aubrey Norton) on that side of the House that come next year we will be sitting in this same position and you will be right there,” Minister Ali said, as he looked in the direction of Norton and his colleague MPs seated on the Opposition benches in the House.

“We are a government for all Guyanese and that would not change,” the minister said, pointing out that the biased nature of the opposition and its rhetoric cannot, and will not change this, since philosophically, “we believe in a Guyana where all are held equal.”

Continuing, Ali highlighted that Guyana is at a threshold as this is the last budget presented in the national assembly under which, His Excellency Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo would be president of the Republic of Guyana.

“It is important to applaud the dynamism, the reconstruction, and the modernization that Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo leads us with; this distinguished son of the soil has laid the foundation for a Guyana that has a sustainable and bright future ahead.

And whilst the Opposition would not acknowledge it, the ordinary Guyanese recognizes the changed image that has been brought about single handedly by the Champion of the Earth,” Ali declared.

He said that the members of the Government’s side salute this year as the year when the tremendous  accomplishments are being celebrated, as well as the  tremendous contributions of the African brothers and sisters  to the  development of the country.

“We must reflect and be happy that they made an ultimate sacrifice that today we can enjoy a Guyana that was taken out of dictatorship in 1992, a Guyana that is democratic today.”

Ali also lambasted Norton for seeking to paint a picture that the drainage and irrigation programme is only developed in certain villages.

Ali challenged this by giving the example in 2009 – 2010 when a total of $150 million was spent in Buxton – for instance – on Drainage and Irrigation and this year another $80 million will be spent there.

Addressing Norton’s claim of poor planning, the minister said in 2009, $6.2 billion was allocated in the budget and “we then spent $11.6 billion. Then in 2010, it moved to $12.7 billion.”

Alluding to this expenditure, Ali pointed out that he has been offering explanations to the people on a daily basis and, at the end of the day, it is the people’s opinion that really counts.

“Mr. Speaker, the allocation of additional expenditure in housing is an indication of good planning and implementation. It is only as a result of exceptional macro-economic planning that our revenue projections were exceeded. It is only as a result of the improved accountability and transparency of this government that our revenue base has expanded and indeed Mr. Speaker, we spend this surplus in areas that mean the most to the people – health, education, water, housing,” he argued.

UN-MATCHED!
Guyana, according to Minister Ali, is probably the only country in the world that allocates, every single day – including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays – 17 house lots per day.

“Match that! Match that!” shouted an enthusiastic Ali.

The Ministry of Housing’s allocation target is on the upward scale from the allocation of 2,888 lots in 2008 to 6,331 in 2010 and he pointed out that he remains confident in the staff to deliver 7,500 lots by the end of the year.

He stated: “We will not slow or we will not be stopped…not by the rhetoric or the threats. We have one agenda and that is to ensure that all Guyanese benefit from the laudable housing programme.”

Rebutting Norton’s statements on housing in Region 10, Ali made the point that the PNCR member forgot Wisrock, Block 22 and Blueberry Hill. The minister stated emphatically that these are regularized areas.

In his presentation, Norton stated that the mere regularizing of areas for housing does not mean that those house lots will be transformed into houses, making specific reference to Block 22 and Amelia’s Ward in Linden.

“The PNC had 28 years to regularize [those areas] and they ‘ent’ do nothing. You had 28 years to give the people title but you ‘ent’ do nothing. You had 28 years to empower the people but you still ‘ent’ do nothing. Mr. Speaker, I am proud that we did it,” Ali said.

The minister also took issue with Norton’s use of the word “merely” to describe the Government’s regularization of the areas in Linden.

“Mr. Speaker, if empowering people and giving them titles to land so that they can get their loan, so that asset value could improve, their equity could improve [by] merely regularizing, then we will continue to merely regularize because the people will have the say. How could we use the word ‘merely’ on such a substantial issue that transforms the lives of people?” the minister asked.

On Norton’s comments on the need to have electricity, drainage and roads and modern amenities available to the occupants of the developing schemes, Ali pointed to the rapid development at the Diamond Housing Scheme as an example of such a scheme “with modern… mo-dern [amenities].”

He said, in a sarcastic drawl: “Take a driiiiiive 15 minutes away from the City, you will be greeted with a modern gas station, three new banks, supermarket, business centre, playfield, all in one housing scheme – the Diamond Housing Scheme.”

He said that such a sojourn would not only allow a skeptic to admire the scheme but also celebrate the planning aspects of the Government’s work. “Mr. Speaker, I have news for the honourable member, because two years from now, when the Government speaks about Parfait Harmonie and Amelia’s Ward and speak about Tuschen, I can guarantee that we will be celebrating the opening of many more banks, many more gas stations and many more supermarkets.”

“…the honourable member went on to say that the ministuh…the ministuh is politically interfering, where anybody with CXCs…can distribute house lots. But Mr. Speaker, the PNCR had 28 years…they didn’t share a single house lot, which means none of them had CXCs,” he said to an uproar of mirth.

In his earlier presentation, Norton had said that while “they (the ruling party) were looking after themselves” residents of many villages on the East Coast of Demerara, including Dazell Housing Scheme, do not have water. He said that the “bourgeois” are operating in their own interest at the expense of the interest of the working class in general and the working poor in particular.

Countering, Minister Ali said: “[Norton] made it out to be that nothing is happening there. But he did not tell us about the more than seven roads done there last year or the five that are planned there for this year. He did not tell you about the 250 titles distributed there. He did not tell you about the 150 titles that will be distributed there this year.”

At this point the Speaker, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, had to ask the House to maintain order, saying: “We either listen to the debate or we close shop and go home. We cannot conduct the Parliament in this way, honourable members.”

The minister also mentioned that there is a court matter by four persons that blocked development and “we still went ahead and did many roads last year – drainage and water. This year we are going to install an entire pipe network in Angoy’s Avenue.”
“He did not say that because it does not suit his agenda,” the minister declared.

According to Ali, during last year budget debate, PNCR Member Mr. Keith Scott had said that the ‘One Stop Shop’ exercise had stopped. The minister, however, emphasized that for 2010 alone there were 15 such exercises – more than one every month. “While in many countries in the Caribbean, they are struggling to organize one such community tent every six months, this ministry could organize 15 such community tents in one year,” he said, with pride evident in his voice.

Norton in his speech had challenged the minister to confirm the veracity of a report that at present, a team from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is investigating the waste of its resources on the water sector in Linden. He stated that “as in Housing” the water sector is being mismanaged.

But Minister Ali had this to say: “I am delighted to say that the IDB is in Linden finalizing the terms of a new loan programme that would see investment in the Linden water system.”

The minister ended by saying that, this year, a housing drive will be intensified and will see the development of housing schemes in hinterland areas. He said the communities targeted are Port Kaituma, Mabaruma, Orealla and many other areas. “This is what budget 2011 delivers to the people,” he said.