–the model village that’s close to becoming a ‘comprehensive community’

ON a normal sunny day, it would take almost 12 minutes to traverse the pothole-filled road within Perseverance, a fairly small and quiet community off the East Bank Demerara main road, tucked away more than 4 kilometers in what was once cane fields.

If the rain fell, it surely took longer to travel the couple hundred yards where homeowners had occupied the government- issued properties. Commuters would either have to wait on taxis or a lift from a Good Samaritan to get out of the area, or risk getting soaked and muddied from the water-filled craters, some of which spanned the entire width of the roadway.

This was usually the feature across many new housing schemes. In some cases, homeowners were without water or electricity, and this was the catalyst for many persons not taking up residency or building their homes on the properties they had bought.
Today, Perseverance residents can count themselves lucky. Dubbed a model village for what the A partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government has said will be common features for all housing schemes they build, Perseverance is on its way to having all pertinent amenities to fulfill the promise of creating “comprehensive communities”.

Not only do the residents there have electricity and running water in their homes, but street lights and paved roads as well.
Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) Project Manager, Mr Kennard Dazzle told the Guyana Chronicle that all is going well in terms of creating the ideal community.
He said contractors will complete some three kilometers of road at that location, to the tune of $130M. The work is just over 50 per cent complete.

“Perseverance residents will no longer be plagued by mud roads and huge potholes,” he said, adding that GAICO Construction is completing Lot Two of the road which is some 55 per cent complete, while Fawaaz Bacchus Construction is completing Lot One of the work, which is around 25 per cent complete.

It’s no secret that Perseverance is the first community to have gotten asphalt-covered roads virtually at its infant stage.
While a small number of new housing schemes had crush-and-run and other temporary materials thrown on roadways leading to their homes, these were of little consequence, since the onset of rain would see a return of the potholes in no time.

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
“This is a breath of fresh air,” one taxi driver who identified himself as David said.
David has been taking commuters to and from their homes since occupants started moving into Perseverance some three years ago. “At that time, the road was really bad; you had to be changing vehicle parts constantly,” he recalled.

But this was nothing new, he said. “I would work in new housing schemes; like when they were building Diamond, La Parfaite Harmonie and some other places, and all the time was bad roads. So I know what it was.”
Perseverance residents are pleased with what they say is government’s efforts to create comfortable, complete living spaces for citizens.

After numerous complaints of shabby work from residents occupying Perseverance homes, as well as several other communities, the Ministry of Housing saw it fit to host a housing exhibition to showcase the new building types that they plan to roll out, while leaving the gates to the Perseverance community open so that the rest of the country could see what a comprehensive community, equipped with security features, public utilities and amenities such as public spaces and play grounds, would look like.

As Mr Dazzle told the Guyana Chronicle, apart from the already available turnkey houses in Perseverance, the housing department is constructing 40 more duplexes, 20 three-bedroom houses and approximately eight two-bedroom properties to fill empty lots where those house types are located.

And while large-scale construction has commenced at the model village, Dazzle said that the completion of road works is expected by the end of September or early October. Work is then expected to commence on community open spaces and the playground.
Dazzle told the Guyana Chronicle, too, that turnkey houses in Providence are also being attended to, since the majority of hem are in dire need of repairs.

He recalled that at least two of the homes had to be completely rebuilt due to poor work by initial contractors. This meant having residents vacate their homes to facilitate the second phase of repairs, estimate to cost close to $42M.

In the meantime, new roads, and drainage facilities are being dug out at Perseverance to facilitate the duplex construction. Dazzle said that the expansion of the community is part of the housing ministry’s bid toward creating comprehensive communities to offer citizens a different housing experience.