RECENTLY-appointed Minister within the Ministry of Communities Valarie Patterson last Monday held a meeting with the residents of Linden to discuss housing and land allocation issues.Scores of residents turned up to voice their concerns and seek solutions to matters pending over a decade and in some cases two decades.

The minister disclosed to the residents that there are currently 25,000 active applications within the system and she pledged to work assiduously to have these lands given out to the people before the completion of 2016.

Low income lands
The Minister within the Ministry of Communities said that those applications are not only from Lindeners but include applicants countrywide and she would be focusing on everyone. However, she stated forthrightly that there are currently no low income lands available in Linden to be allocated. This, she said, is the fundamental reason why applications are backed up as most applicants require low income lands.

To remedy this, Minister Patterson said that she has given the projects department the mandate to find land for the people within one month. This disclosure was quite a surprise to many persons as they were never cognizant of such a situation.

“You have not been given lands because there is nothing to give you and I believe that people should know the truth and the truth is that there are no lands for you,” the minister stated frankly. She said that this is a countrywide land dilemma since there are only high income and middle income lands available.

As a result, persons earning below $100,000 would not be allocated lands because of the unavailability. She promised, however, that this will be solved in the near future as the projects department had been given a strict mandate to find lands within one month.

House lots this year
Minister Patterson also told the people that the government has to provide the necessary amenities before granting house lots. “So when we allocate a lot to you, there would already have roads so you don’t have to find your way through the bush to get to your lot,” she said. Moreover, she explained that this responsibility lies with the Ministry of Communities alone and will take some time. The minister stated that although this mandate is time consuming, she is promising that persons who applied will be given house lots this year. “I promise the people of Guyana that they will get house lots and I am pushing to allot 25,000 this year,” she said.
Repossession
The residents recommended that one way to decrease the amount of applications is by repossessing lands from those who fail to build years after being granted a house lot. The minister said that repossession will only occur if the person had been granted title but still failed to build. If the person does not possess their title, then no repossession will occur as a title is a requirement for a bank loan and these persons may genuinely not have the resources to build by other means.

Squatting
Even though there were many squatters present at the meeting who voiced their concerns about their position, the minister noted that squatting is illegal and she will not be presiding over disorder and illegality.

In view of the high number of squatters, however, the minister said she had requested that the projects department seek out the squatting areas countrywide so as to ascertain their numbers in an effort to regularize these lands. She said, however, that no new squatters will be encouraged and those residing on government reserves will not be regularized.

“I am not going to preside over disorder and illegality, however I am prepared to help you if your situation warrants assistance,” the minister told the residents. Before regularization occurs, however, the area will have to be surveyed, since in some instances persons are living where roads and bridges should be. In addition to this, the minister said that those squatting on more than one piece of land will not see regulation because it will be unfair to persons who own no land.

Not all gov’t-owned lands
The minister also told the residents that not all lands are owned by the Ministry of Communities and even though they may see available lands in the community, they are not all government-owned. Some of the lands are owned by NICIL, Lands and Survey and the Town’s Municipality and the ministry cannot possess these lands and simply allocate house lots. Consultations will have to be held with these land owners in order to have some of these lands transferred to the people to commence allocations.

Condominiums
The minister said also that she will be moving towards building homes that will accommodate more than one family. These houses will be condominiums and will strive to decrease the land shortage in the country. “These houses will be provided so as to maximize the use of the land, but it should not be abused and turned into a tenement yard,” she said. Negotiations will be made with the land owners to have this vision materialized.

Patterson urged the residents to display patience and understand that these developments take time, but she promised that persons will be allocated lots before the end of 2016.