THE Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), Lelon Saul, says that there are over 25,000 active applications for the Adequate Housing and Urban Accessibility Programme (AHUAP) which the authority is working to reduce.

The AHUAP is aimed at improving the quality of life in urban and peri-urban Georgetown through greater access to adequate housing and basic infrastructure for low-income populations through a US$30M Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan.

In the last two years over 3,000 citizens have benefitted either by receiving free core homes; house lots or improved housing infrastructure through the CH&PA. However, the backlog is not as easy to manage as one would hope, and the CEO stated that clearing it in a short time period would require a significant amount of funding.

“We are currently working to reduce the backlog. We will be developing several areas over the next two years or so but this would not significantly reduce the numbers,” Saul said.

“For us to make a significant impact on that number we need to make available an average of 4000-5000 solutions yearly over the next five years. Bear in mind, it costs and average of G$4M to develop one house lot. It would require a significant injection of financial resources. Nevertheless, we’re committed to providing affordable housing to the working class.”

The programme currently targets eligible applicants in communities in Georgetown; West Bank of Demerara; villages of Recht Door Zee, La Parfaite-Harmonie, Westminster; and Lust-en-Rust and Onderneeming.

It targets South of Georgetown up to Diamond/Grove and to the East Coast of Demerara, up to the village of La Bonne Intention.

Saul stated that the applications are processed both by their order of application and priority based the dire need for housing solutions by an applicant. With the capital city already being congested, Saul was pleased to note that persons are accepting lands outside of Georgetown.

“Not every applicant can be awarded housing solution in Georgetown so people are accepting land in Region Three; on the East Bank and East Coast; West Berbice, in Region Six, and in all the regions applicants have shown interest,” he said.

On another topic, the CEO stated that the authority will soon be visiting Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) to ensure that citizens adhere to the commercial and residential zoning of areas.

“We will be going out to assist the NDCs to develop what we call Local Planning Schemes. The planning schemes will basically define areas for activity, be it residential or agriculture among others,” Saul said.

At the same time, through inter-agency coordinating committee on planning and development, the CH&PA will address conflicting legislation that allow for loopholes causing a cross-over in zoning. “There is a plan for us to organise the legislation so it is clear and we can reduce that conflict among the agencies,” he said.