REPRESENTATIVES of Overseas Missions here yesterday were taken on a conducted tour of the East Bank Demerara (E.B.D) Housing Development Projects by officials from the Ministry of Housing and Water including its subject Minister, Irfaan Ali.

The foreign delegations consisted of representatives from Kuwait, Suriname, Brazil, United Kingdom, Barbados, Washington DC, New York and Venezuela.
Speaking during the tour Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, explained to the delegation that the Eccles Scheme which was constructed under the young professionals home was all ‘jungle’ when it was conceptualized. “All the projects we will visit today, the land was all jungle and all this was achieved from 2010 to present” Ali noted.
He explained also that “the trickle-down effect has and continues to benefit the hardware stores, the banking sector and the lumber yards among others. But one very important initiative that we were able to create from these projects was small contractors who have worked and positioned themselves to be able to bid now for large government contracts.” He further explained that during the construction phase the roads were not asphalted but now that the houses have been constructed the Ministry is now building new roads to give the occupants of these houses better accessibility to their homes.
Chief Executive Officer for Central Housing Planning Authority (CHPA), Ms. Myrna Pitt, enlightened the delegation on the progress the projects are making. During the visit to the Eccles Scheme – Young Professionals Homes project she related that all the houses have been allocated and home owners are doing their own finishing touches to their houses. She emphasised that because the financial sector has reinvented itself, Guyanese are more able to become home owners since the interest rate for repayment on loans is only 4.25% per annum.
Taslim Baksh, Director of Finance of Central Housing & Planning Authority (CH&PA) said that presently within the scheme there is almost 80% occupancy. He stressed that $600M was invested by the private sector for this specific project.” The young professionals’ home project started in 2012 and was completed in August 2013. For this project approximately three hundred persons were employed with twelve contractors.” Baksh said.
The foreign delegation was also given the opportunity to see the Providence Scheme, Perseverance and Mocha, along with the new roads and highway to be built.

(By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally)