PRESIDEN Donald Ramotar yesterday told new house-lot beneficiaries that one of the most important things a human being needs in order to improve and add to the quality of his or her life is the security of home ownership.Addressing beneficiaries at the Housing Ministry’s ‘One stop shop’ at the Uitvlugt Community Centre, West Coast Demerara, the President underscored the gains made in the housing sector under the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) Government. “I think that that is one of the most important things (housing) that contribute to a good quality of life”.
Two hundred and sixty-four people benefitted from the house-lot distribution process for the DeWillem/Zeeburg area on the West Coast Demerara.
The President recalled that decades ago in this country, only those who were fortunate enough were able to own a home when they were an average years old . He revealed, “I slightly beat that. I won my own home when I was 48 years…and what is important to note is that this Government has been trying to underpin its social policy to really improve quality in our country in every area and to redistribute income in this era that we are in”.
He added that Government reduced the housing demand tremendously over the years and will continue to try to do so. Under the tenure of the PP/C Administration, over 100,000 house-lots have been distributed to Guyanese in low, middle and high income schemes.

“The Ministry of Housing is now engaging in another loan in order to acquire other lands so that they can try to satisfy completely the needs of our people in housing,” the President stated.
Speaking of the gains in education, the Head of State noted that more than a 1000 schools since Government came to office, have been built or rehabilitated, part of Government’s plan to ensure that Guyanese have a high level of education.
“Very soon our country’s minimum educational standard will be a secondary education. To do that, we have spent billions of dollars in order to ensure that our people have quality education in this country”. The fact that text books are provided was also noted. This, he reminded, was a marked change from what obtained years ago.
He stated that those who are old enough will remember the scramble for text book;, but now, “Government provides text books, exercise books for children in school and assists too with school uniforms…last year when we thought that we had some more money to help parents to try to keep their children in school, we gave parents for every child that they had in school, from kindergarten to secondary, $10,000…”
He said the redistribution of wealth is an investment, “because life has shown us that when we have feelings of strong security among our people, it raises their production and productivity”.
The President emphasised that his Government is investing heavily in people, as “the most important factor of development is not how much gold we have, and how much diamonds, and bauxite and timber that we have. The most important factor of development is you, the people of this country, and therefore the investment that we are putting is really an investment in our future”.
The planned health sector improvements were also mentioned by President Ramotar. He said, “We also want to build a specialty hospital so that many of the diseases that people died from in the past and still do, because of their economic circumstances, can be prevented.”  Government is keen to offer more affordable medical care, he added. “At the Georgetown hospital we are doing some of these things, but in a small way, like bypass operations. We have a cancer ward, a burns unit, we have kidney and dialysis services, but we want to build it in a bigger scale and try to make it affordable so that everyone can have access to these services.”
Medical technology, he explained, is advancing rapidly, and “If this is the genius of mankind, then it important that it not remain and benefit only a small minority of people, but it must spread out and go to the masses of people. That is one of the reasons that we want to build the specialty hospital that you have heard so much about and the controversy around it”.
In closing, President Ramotar said it gives him great satisfaction to see people making this first step forward in acquiring their land, to erect their own homes.
The PPP/C, the President said, is looking forward to the continuation of this housing programme. “We are looking forward to your individual and collective support and understanding, so that we can ensure that the upward trajectory that our country is on and the higher quality of life that our people are enjoying will not now or ever be reversed. (GINA)