THE Housing Ministry’s Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) ‘One Stop Shop’ exercise has been fast-tracking distribution of houselots and hastening the process of homeownership.

And Saturday, another overwhelmingly successful ‘One Stop Shop’ was held at Bartica, Region 7, which saw the distribution of over 400 houselots for the new Five Miles Housing Scheme.

Significant Investment
Creating the infrastructure for this scheme amounts to over $252M. The contract was divided into two lots, valued $138M and $113M respectively, with the contracts awarded to BK International and Ivor Allen.
It is a ‘per household’ investment of more than $700,000, and a per capita investment of close to $180,000. This means that for every person in a household that would be allocated a houselot, Government would have invested more than $180,000.
Further, this development will bring direct benefits to more than 1,400 people and will see the creation of approximately 400 lots. However, the ministry has in its system more than 800 applications for Region 7, which means that this development would not meet the full requirement in terms of the demand.

Expediting Homeownership
The ministry will commence discussions with the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and the Local Government Ministry shortly to identify a new area for which additional funds will be sought to expand the programme to accommodate the remainder of the applications.
“Rest assured that this is not the end in terms of the housing development. This is just one aspect that would ensure that we meet the full housing demand here in Region 7, particularly Bartica,” Minister Ali said.
The minister noted that the One Stop Shop offers an excellent opportunity for access to all kinds of information as it relates to home ownership. This exercise brings together the private sector and the banking and services sectors, all in a conscious effort to make the process of owning a home as convenient and as hassle-free as possible.

Cheap, Misleading Propaganda
During his remarks, Regional Chairman, Region 7, Gordon Bradford, accused Government of not holding enough consultations with the regional authorities before allocating lands in the region.
He said that while he has no objections to the developments that are taken to the region, he feels that the regional authorities should be more involved.
Minister Ali strongly refuted this statement, and explained that former Regional Chairman Holbert Knights was involved in every single aspect of the process, which was done in an extremely open and transparent manner, at which even the media were present.
Moreover, the RDC was given a copy of the Bill of Quantities to help in the monitoring of the process, which is the standard procedure by which the ministry operates.
“At the end of the day, we have to serve people…staff from the ministry came here on several occasions over the construction period, sometimes for as long as three days, and fully involved the RDC. We believe in working together at the Ministry of Housing and Water, and we understand the role the various stakeholders play in the development of the various regions and communities. We will never allow ourselves to be driven by cheap politics,” Minister Ali emphasised.

Community Development Plan
Recognising that housing development in Region 7 is closely linked to the socio-economic enhancement of the region, the ministry is committed to ensuring sustainable communities; and as such, it has proposed a Community Development Plan and the department responsible for this will be visiting the region shortly to commence drafting of an agenda in consultation with the people, so as to understand what their developmental priorities are.
In this plan, focus will be placed on the tourism and services sectors, and Minister Ali explained, “we believe that this region has tremendous potential in the tourism sector but we need to develop our services so that we will have the right skill level and we could have an efficient services sector to propel tourism development.”
As it is right now, government is in the process of approving two massive investments in the tourism sector, one in White Water, where a developer is constructing a 25-room facility. This would be linked directly to the provision of jobs in Region 7 as well as the expansion of the economic base.
Reference was also made to the issue of garbage collection, which will be addressed in the plan.
“You cannot look to the future, developing a strong tourism sector, and not deal with the garbage problem,” the Housing Minister said.
Another issue is the reduction of travel time to get to the region; and as such, work has to be done to improve the access roads. The plan will cater for the development of the Bartica-Potaro road.
The ‘One Stop Shop’ exercise was held under the theme, “Building Equity, Empowering People.
CH&PA’s Head, Myrna Pitt, said homeownership enables and empowers individuals to reap benefits, as beneficiaries become part of a community and have addresses which ultimately increase their potential of becoming productive citizens.
In June, the CH&PA held a One Stop Shop at the Guyana National Stadium at which 1,000 houselots were distributed for the East Bank Demerara.