THE Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), on Saturday, formally handed over the La Parfaite Harmonie Housing Scheme which boasts 8842 house lots, along with the Goed Fortuin regularised squatting area, to the Malgre Tout/Meer Zorgen Neighborhood Democratic Council (NDC), West Coast of Demerara (WCD).

During the handing over ceremony, hosted at the La Parfaite Harmonie Nursery School, the CH&PA handed over responsibility for nine of the 10 sections of the scheme namely; Westminster phases one and two, Recht Door zee phases one and two, La Parfaite Harmonie phases one and two, Onderneeming Phase one and phase two, and Schoonard. The CP&HA held off on handing over Lust-En-Rust, on the basis that the infrastructure is still incomplete.

The ceremony also saw the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the CH&PA and the NDC, along with the transfer of copies of the cadastral plans of the various housing areas, the list of all the beneficiaries of house lots in the area, the profile of the housing area, a road maintenance manual, which covers many of the relevant aspects of maintenance and also a developers manual which provides guidance in the planning permission process and a map showing which roads are still to be upgraded and completed by the CH&PA.

Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Annette Ferguson, in her remarks, said that although the CH&PA has handed over the responsibility for the areas, it still remains resolute in its mandate to ensure the community benefits from infrastructural improvements. “…you will also agree with me that from the time of its establishment of the community, a number of works have been done, yes we know that there is a lot more to be done but your government is working assiduously to address some of those issues, and despite the formal handing over of the communities to the NDC, CH&PA will still play its part in ensuring that the basic infrastructure is upgraded and continue to give its full support,” Ferguson pointed out.

The minister further stated that the housing scheme has seen much development as it relates to facilities. “And I want to pick up on a point that His Excellency alluded to when we did a recent walk about in the Prospect and Perseverance areas, and you know what stood out to me, he alluded to four pillars for the housing sector and the four pillars he referred to were, regionalisation, regularisation, reorientation and resources. So what I see today is that one R is standing out, that of Resources, because in La Parfaite Harmonie, what do we see here today, we see schools, we see health centres, the recent commissioning of a police station just over a week ago, we have playgrounds, we have churches, we have mosques, we have temples, and these are the things that actually make up a community, and as I said before, we as a government, we have a long way to go, but we understand the role of the NDC, and as how our collaboration will benefit this community,” Ferguson noted.

Ferguson related to the residents that they must be aware of the roles of their NDC and that they must hold them accountable not only for the fixing of lights and commissioning of buildings, and fixing of roads, but that they must also ensure the NDC establishes programmes aimed at providing opportunities for their youths, and their elderly and less fortunate persons of the community.

Constituency Representative, Denzil St. Hill, stated that the community has benefitted largely from the works conducted by the CH&PA and that as a community, they are poised to continue working with the CH&PA and the NDC to ensure that their community continues benefitting from further infrastructural advancement. “Development is on our shores: embrace progress, embrace change, from the start it will be challenging, but in the end we will see victory, let us ensure with this move by the Government of Guyana, as a community of vibrant young men and women, we will continue to look over our infrastructure, as a way of ensuring our community progresses,” St. Hill charged residents.