THE Government of Guyana has been aggressively pursuing a policy of making home ownership easier and, in keeping with that, the Ministry of Housing and Water distributed 1,600 house lots in the Farm, East Bank Demerara second phase yesterday.

The distribution took place at the National Stadium at Providence, during the Housing Ministry’s seventh ‘One Stop Shop’ for this year, under the theme ‘Live the Guyanese dream, home ownership made easier.’
Addressing the gathering of mostly new house lot recipients, President Donald Ramotar said one of the fundamental philosophies of the Government is to ensure that the economy of the country serves the people.
“We, fundamentally, believe that once we have a strong, educated, healthy and secure population, that that population is going to be able to be more committed and dedicated and more productive in their activities and part of the security is the security of owning your own home,” he stated.
The Head of Sate reminded that, when the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) acceded to Government in 1992, it did not have a lot of resources to divert to the housing sector.

He recalled that the Government had embarked on a programme where it established high income housing schemes and then used the resources gained from those to develop lower income housing schemes.
President Ramotar explained that the Government has since moved on to a number of different programmes, including to one of ‘turnkey homes’.

TAKING STEPS
In addition, he stated that the Government has been taking steps to have mortgage rates lowered.
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New house lot recipients pull their house lot numbers with the assistance of President Ramotar yesterday (Adrian Narine photos) [/box]“We have stopped taking taxes from the banks for the money they have lent to you and, because we are not taking the taxes from the interest from money they have lent to you, they are able to lend you at a lower interest rate,” he asserted.
The President related that the East Bank Demerara has changed dramatically, over the years, noting that the traffic situation has become very congested in some areas.
As a result of this, he said the Government is working to develop a new access road to link the East Coast and the East Bank, as well as another road, to access the Diamond Housing Scheme, in order to ease the congestion.
Ramotar urged the house lot recipients to, as they take up residence in their new community, make it a model, advising against littering and such acts that can clog drains and affect the entire area.
Meanwhile, Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali emphasised that it was a strategic policy direction of the Government to invest in housing for the improvement of people’s lives.
“We did not go and recreate this land. This land was there, but it is the policy that the Government develops to improve the lives of its people that dictates how effective that government is…I think we have shown commitment and effectiveness in delivering housing and living solutions for families and people all across the country,” he stated.
The Housing Minister alluded to an important shift in the average age of land owners in Guyana, observing that, years ago, persons retired without owning their own home, while the average land owner, these days, is well below 35 years.
He said a lot of work goes into making new housing schemes available to people, adding that this is being done by the staff of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) of the Housing Ministry.
He said the technical staff of CH&PA has been able to save the Government in excess of $3B in the last two years, because not a single consultant was hired to design, plan or supervise any of the works in the new housing schemes.
Ali advised that an investment of $1.4 billion is being made by the Government to develop the infrastructure at the Farm Phase 2 location to make the lots serviceable.
In addition to roads and water for the scheme, he said another $101.7M sum is being invested for the provision of electricity there.
Ali said, while the desired level of progress in the area of electricity for new housing schemes has not been reached, the Government is working closely with Guyana Power & Light (GPL) to ensure that the provision is expedited.

NEW MODEL
Moreover, he mentioned that the Housing Ministry will be adopting a new model, based on lessons learnt from experiences over the years. It involves simultaneously allocating the land while the infrastructure is being done.
He stated that the ministry has realised that, when the infrastructure is done before the lands allocation, persons would have to wait for a period of between six months and a year before they can access a loan from a bank, during which time the basic structures lie idle and can be damaged
Nevertheless, he stated that work has started in the area and the Government of Guyana and the Housing Fund is the primary provider of the resources to put what is necessary in place
Ali disclosed that the Farm Phase 2 would create 1,695 new lots and benefit almost 7,000 people directly.
According to him, the total investment is in excess of $1.6 billion and, for every person in a household, the Government would be investing some $220,000.
In addition, he said the total revenue to be derived from the sale of these lots is $838M. As such, he posited that the Government would be subsidising this scheme by almost 45 percent.
Ali said, further, that allocation of lots in the various ranges is based on the information supplied by applicants and cautioned persons against misrepresenting the facts.
He warned that there is a clause in the agreement of sale which states that, if any person is discovered to have made a misrepresentation on their application, monies paid will be forfeited and they will not be granted any house lot.

(By Nadine Sanchara)