TOSHAO of the South Rupununi community of Sand Creek, Maxie Pugsley, said that the construction of 48 low-income homes through the Government of Guyana and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Sustainable Hinterland Housing Project is creating a rippling effect in the economy of the village and he is very pleased with this.

With farmers experiencing low produce due to flooding, Pugsley told this newspaper on Sunday on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting that the project is causing many to earn alternatively. “The community is benefitting from it, the contractors are benefitting from it, the saw men are benefitting from it, the people who are making the bricks are benefitting from it, so money is circulating,” he said.

The 48 families have already been identified for the homes and six of these are already completed. Minister within the Ministry of Communities with responsibility for Housing, Valarie Yearwood, said “The beauty about the project is not only that the families will be receiving them free, but the labour and materials are taken from right within the communities, hence the reason Sand Creek and other communities are being empowered.”
The low-income homes are part of government’s commitment to improve the livelihood of low-income households in these pre-selected hinterland communities. The loan was approved to the tune of US$ 3.1 M. Some communities that are benefitting in Region one are Sebai, Kamwatta and Whitewater and Katoka, Kwatamang and Massara in Region Nine, including Sand Creek.

The completion of the construction of these homes is just one of the development projects that Sand Creek will benefit from in 2019. The sum of $5M from the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs has been allocated for the eco-tourism lodge which will exploit the beauty of the community, since its surrounding mountains and forest make it a tourist attraction. The health centre will also see an expansion of its maternity section and the $1.2 M presidential grant will be used for a developmental project of the village council’s choice.