Gov’t committed to improving the standard of living nationwide 
-as the ‘One Stop Shop’ rolls to the East Coast
THE GOVERNMENT of Guyana through the Ministry of Housing and Water has invested close to $20 billion towards development on the East Coast of Demerara in a bid to further improve the lives of thousands of Guyanese living there.
This is according to Housing Minister, Irfaan Ali who made the bold declaration Friday as the Ministry allocated more than 200 house lots in Mon Repos and Good Hope during  yet another ‘One Stop Shop’ exercise held at the Lusignan Community Centre Ground.
Ali reminded those gathered at the Ground of the importance of the exercise, as there was a time when owning a house lot, or a home for that matter, was but a dream for many a Guyanese.
Said he: “In 1992, we had hundreds of thousands of house lot applications; today, a 22-year-old can own land. And many young people can do this, as opposed to years ago, when, at 30, one could not even dream of owning a house… This is a situation that has been cast on us, because of years and years of neglect by the previous government… People must take cognizance of this fact.”
He noted that in an effort to improve the living conditions of thousands, the PPP/C administration has over the years had to invest billions towards achieving that goal, which they’ve done without disparity, a reality that should not be taken for granted. And it will continue doing so, he said, just so as to ensure there is continued development throughout the country, in keeping with its agenda.
In terms of monies expended to date on the East Coast of Demerara alone, Minister Ali said development in the new housing schemes where lots have been allocated has been heavily subsidized by the administration.
Putting a dollar value on it, he said: “Eighty-nine million dollars have been subsidized by the government. In simple fact, governmentis paying on your behalf this amount. That means for every single household that will get a house lot, they would receive a subsidy of $359,000. That is the mathematics. If you have four persons living in that house, it means that for every single person who lives there, the governmentis investing $89,717. That is just in one of the schemes.”
Contending that these concessions are often downplayed by those who seek to mislead the people of this country because of their narrow political agenda, Minister Ali said:
“This will not be reported because it will not suit the political agenda of these people. The government has no apologies, and we are going to continue to aggressively… ensure the housing needs and requirements of all the people are met.”
He also pointed to the more than $3.6 billion that has been expended on the water sector over the years, in keeping with the government’s policy of integrated development, whereby new wells have been  dug in many areas on the East Coast, including Good Hope and more recently, Lusignan.
This kind of spending, he emphasized, is “quantitative, qualitative, tangible evidence” that every single corner and every single community is benefiting from development.

Regularisation
He also seized the opportunity of reminding his audience that of the over 100 squatter settlements in Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica) alone, 72 have now been regularized, thanks to the PPP/C’s robust housing drive. 
“It was never easy,” he said, “Each of these had more than 400 families. These were persons who never had access to land; never had something to inherit and call their own. And today, we have regularized more than 72 of those areas.”
As to the government’s continued effort to improve the standard of living for even more Guyanese, Ali said while there is yet a lot more work left to be done, it remains committed to the cause and strengthening identified weaknesses along the way.
In delivering on its promise to complete the regularization and upgrading of informal settlements, the Government is currently working on regularizing  and upgrading  170 of the existing 216 such areas countrywide.