97,000 in Region Three benefitted directly from housing
SOME 97,000 people in Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) have benefitted directly from the housing programme currently being implemented by the Government of Guyana. Minister with the portfolio, Mr. Irfaan Ali made the disclosure Tuesday, during the Housing Ministry’s 17th ‘One Stop Shop’ this year, where approximately 240 lots were allocated in Leonora, at the Housing Ministry, Brickdam, Georgetown.
He said in excess of $15 billion have been invested in housing in the Region, which would have seen the creation of 24,000 lots in communities there.
“This has benefitted more than 97,000 people. You can understand the macro development that is taking place in the Region,” Ali told the gathering.
He said, in addition to the provision of serviced lots, the Housing Ministry is also implementing the Community Roads Improvement Project (CRIP) in Leonora.
Explaining the scope of the project, Ali said Leonora also falls under the CRIP, within the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) of Stewartville/Cornelia Ida, where 49 roads are being redone to the cost of $117.8M.
“Additionally, in various communities of Region Three, through the Miscellaneous Road Programme, we are spending more than $130M,” he disclosed.
About the development of the Leonora Scheme, Ali said the infrastructure work, which is being done in two phases, will be completed before year end.
“The investment in the scheme is more than $85M and we will spend a further $15M in January, when we will install the electricity network to make the scheme fully functional, with the first set of persons, including Police and Army officers inside,” he assured.
The Leonora scheme will consist, primarily, of ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), as well as nurses and teachers.
However, Housing Minister Ali said the Ministry’s set target of 7,000 lots, for this year, has been surpassed, which means that even more citizens would have benefitted.
“We want to assure that we are going to continue to work with you, to ensure that your dream of home ownership is realised. It goes beyond owning a piece of land; that is why we are working with the banking sector to have the best possible interest rate available to you,” he said.
Over the years, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) has focused keenly on implementing the government’s policy on the distribution of serviced land for residential development and, as such, 74,029 lots have been allocated in the past 12 years.
In 2009, there were 12 One Stop Shop exercises in Regions Three; Two in (Pomeroon/Supenaam),Four in (Demarara/Mahaica); Five in (Mahaica/Berbice),Six in (East Berbice/Corentyne), Nine in UpperTakutu/Upper Essequibo) and Ten in (Upper Demerara/Berbice), while, in 2010, 15 such were conducted in Regions Two, Three, Four, Six and Eight(Potaro/Siparuni).
Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ms. Myrna Pitt said the One Stop Shop strategy has enabled applicants to speed up the process and preparation to start constructing their homes.