– …insist Ali
THE Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is adopting a different approach to regularisation, to afford citizens the opportunity of having legal claim to their property, as part of the strategy for improving the lives of all citizens, Minister of Housing and Water, Mr. Irfaan Ali said. Towards this objective, 170 of the total of 216 squatter settlements identified by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) have, so far, been regularised.
The remaining areas are either road, sea defence, or other drainage reserves, such as the banks of canals and are categorised as zero tolerance areas, in that, they cannot be regularised, he said.
The minister said residents in Linden are soon to benefit from the regularising process and will receive titles to their properties.
According to Ali, there are close to 2,000 lots still to be regularised in the region, yet another major accomplishment there.
“We have commenced this process to the extent that we now have completed the survey for most of the lots and in another two to four weeks we will have titles distributed to most of these persons who have been living in these areas for 40 to 50 years without titles,” he explained.
Ali said: “The areas in Region Ten, which are to be beneficiaries of the regularisation, include Ituni, Parcels 95 to 139, Block ‘F’ Plantation Wismar/West Watooka, Parcels 90 to 94 Block ‘F’ Wismar, Block E & F, Canvas City, Green Valley, Block 22 Linden and Blue Berry Hill.
“This amounts to a total of 1,218 lots owned by the Government of Guyana and which are being regularised by CH&PA. There are also an additional 266 lots owned by National Industrial and Commercial Investment Ltd (NICIL).
“In these areas, regularisation is being done by NICIL and CH&PA and when issued, the titles will be passed from NICIL to the occupiers.
“From 1992 to 2011, approximately 18,166 (approximately 80 per cent) of the lots have been regularised of the 170 areas under regularisation.
There are 21,037 lots in areas with completed surveys, from a total of 147 areas across the country, with 23 such areas having incomplete surveys.
To date, the Ministry of Housing regularisation process has brought benefits to close to 111,250 citizens of this country, Ali said.