Ensuring 100 per cent access to housing and water
MINISTER of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, said the 2012 National Budget is reflective of government’s commitment towards ensuring there is 100 percent access to housing and water, as well as providing the opportunity to achieve improved pressure flow and quality of water. Ali made this comment minutes after his colleague Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, on Friday presented the $192.8B 2012 National Budget, when he announced that $3.6B had been allocated to the sector to further increase access to affordable housing, improve the quality of infrastructure of housing schemes, and regularise squatter settlements.
During Friday’s presentation, Minister Singh emphasised that the allocation is in keeping with the Administration’s aim to ensure that Guyanese have access to adequate and affordable housing, within suitable and economically viable communities; as such, 30,000 new house lots are to be distributed by 2015.
Alluding to the benefits to be derived from this, Dr. Singh said, “In this regard, 6,500 house lots will be allocated and 4,000 land titles will be processed and distributed. Further, an additional 200 core houses will be constructed and the programme for professional groups will provide 200 teachers, nurses and policemen with fast track access to loans for home construction.
Another public-private initiative to ensure greater access to affordable housing has been the recent establishment of a turnkey housing initiative which seeks to minimise the time taken between allocation, loan application and construction by immediately providing two-bedroom houses to an additional 80 families by the end of the year.”
In addition, home improvement subsidies will be made available to vulnerable groups, benefiting 190 coastland and 100 Amerindian families, and under the infrastructure development programme, works will be undertaken to improve roads, drains and structures in existing schemes such as Kokerite Hill, Uitvlugt, Herstelling, Bartica and Wisroc, the Finance Minister added.

Achievements
In his presentation, Singh reminded that last year , $3.3B was expended on the housing sector, of which $700M was spent on improving the road network and water distribution system in Plantation Zeelugt, Leonora, Mahdia and Culvert City, benefiting over 1,500 households.
Pointing to the ancillary benefits of investments in the sector, he noted that 25 core houses were completed and another 59 started, and some 8,981 house lots allocated, while 7,325 land titles were distributed.
“In excess of 1,000 persons accessed low interest financing, valued at over $5.6B. The One-Stop-Shop Outreaches conducted in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 benefited over 36,000 persons,” the minister highlighted.

Water and Sanitation
“Government will continue to invest in the water sector, consolidating the gains made over the previous term, especially in ensuring that all Guyanese have access to adequate supplies of safe, potable water,” the Finance Minister stated.
In 2011, $1.8B was spent in the water sector, facilitating the construction and upgrading of distribution and transmission mains in Regions 2, 3,  5and 6, benefiting in excess of 90,000 people.
This year, $2B has been allocated to improve the quality of water supply, of which $900M is budgeted for the installation of approximately 20 kilometres of transmission and distribution mains, the upgrading of water treatment plant systems in areas such as Rose Hall, Pouderoyen and Fellowship, and the completion of four boreholes benefiting approximately 233,900 residents.
Water supply systems will also be upgraded as $100M is budgeted for works to be done at West Watooka, Wisroc, Christianburg, Richmond Hill and Canvas City. Additionally, $400M will go towards the construction of two new water treatment plants at Wisroc and Amelia’s Ward, to benefit 30,000 residents.
“Complementing these efforts, the Energy Efficiency Pilot Project will address the need to improve energy use within GWI facilities through the installation of 12 energy efficiency devices at selected locations on the East Bank and West Demerara to reduce high start-up energy consumption in the water supply system,” he said.
Government has always had the interest of Amerindians at heart; and to continue on the path of providing quality way of life for them, over $150M was budgeted for the installation of 10 photo voltaic systems, upgrade of five existing water supply systems, and construction of medium depth boreholes that will benefit over 11,000 people.
Added to this, $503M is budgeted to commence rehabilitation of nine sewer-pumping stations in the Georgetown sewer network, and a further $678M for the waste-receiving cell at the Haags Bosch Sanitary Landfill, and to complete works towards the realisation of a treatment facility for pretreated medical and hazardous waste.