EIGHTY-ONE more core homes will be constructed following Cabinet’s approval, last Tuesday, of a contract valued $170M. 

Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon made the announcement Wednesday at his usual media briefing at Office of the President, in Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.
The houses will be built in Regions 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara), 4 (Demerara/Mahaica), 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne) and 10 (Upper Demerara/ Upper Berbice).
Cabinet had, previously, approved two contracts, to the value of $63M, for the construction of 35 core houses in two West Bank Demerara villages. Those benefitting just needed to make a contribution of $100,000 each.
The core homes initiative is one by the Ministry of Housing and Water and the cost of erecting them will, essentially, be borne by central government.
Earlier contracts awarded were for erection of homes at Westminster, West Bank Demerara and at Lusignan and Non Pariel, East Coast Demerara.
The contract for Westminster was awarded at the sum of $15.6M; Lusignan $14.6M and Non Pariel $15.9M. The beneficiaries will be persons of “absolute poverty,” Luncheon had explained, adding:“You have to be indigent to benefit from core homes.”
He said a recipient would make a donation of $100,000 and then provision of the land, construction of the home and every other requirement would be done by the Government.
1,000 CORE HOMES WILL BE BUILT

Luncheon said about a 1,000 core homes will be built and some have already been allocated in Regions 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) and 6.
According to him, the investment for the land preparation, including roads, potable water, electricity and drainage, for the 1,000, is about half of a billion dollars.
Minister of Housing and Water, Mr. Irfaan Ali had said that, over the past years, his ministry, along with the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), has continued to pursue its statutory mandate to make housing affordable and accessible to low income earners.
The Ministry thus introduced the ‘Core House Pilot Project’ geared at improving occupancy level in targeted schemes.
Through this programme ‘Starter Homes’ were constructed with the objective of improving the quality of life for low income families, by not only issuing house lots but by providing greater access to housing.
To make that possible, the Government of Guyana received financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) under the Second Low Income Settlement Programme (LIS 2), which is a follow-up to the First Low Income Settlement Programme that was successfully implemented.