Government’s housing drive

THE APNU+AFC administration has committed to bringing a new approach to tackling housing development. It has embarked on an approach of building communities, as against issuing house lots where persons are expected to construct their individual homes.
Another aspect of issuing house lots is that there was a haphazard approach to infrastructural development. In many instances, houses were built in areas without roads, including sidewalks, proper drainage, sewerage, and in the absence of electricity and telephone services. In this physical environment, though every home owner should feel a sense of satisfaction and pride at being able to own a piece of real estate, and by extension a piece of Guyana, it compromises the aesthetics and property value.

Building communities not only addresses the infrastructural deficiencies as obtains in the present house lot allocation, but it brings a sense of orderliness; improved aesthetic and property value. The psychological comfort is also boosted in community environment, where one will enter a turn-key house, without the frustration of having no utilities and proper infrastructural connectivity to gain ingress and egress to one’s home.

The present proposed community approach to housing development, should it be modelled based on past experiences, has characteristics such as a community playground, business centres, health clinic, schools and proper infrastructures and basic services. Some communities across the country are Tucber and Town Council schemes in Berbice; the Henrietta and Suddie Housing schemes in Essequibo; and Tucville and South Ruimveldt in Georgetown to name a few. Whereas Guyana is pursuing a ‘Green’ Economy, there may be other characteristics. In 2016, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) said it will expend $50B on revamping the Housing Programme.

This newspaper on Monday quoted its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lelon Saul as saying that in its quest to meet the high housing demand in the country, the CH&PA will be providing approximately 1,600 housing solutions to Guyanese for 2020.
Of that number, approximately 400 house lots, totalling some 70 acres of land, will be allocated to the Joint Services (the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Fire Service and the Guyana Prison Service).

Saul further detailed that an additional 1,200 housing solutions, comprising both house lots and built units, will be developed and allocated to applicants during 2020. It was noted that between 2015 and 2019, a total of 6,541 house lots were allocated to citizens across the country, in addition to 444 built units in Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); Four (Demerara-Mahaica); Five (Mahaica-Berbice); and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), amounting to approximately 7,000 house-lots in total. The built units include duplexes, upper-elevated two-bedroom houses, and single-flat two and three-bedroom houses.

One of the deficiencies, however, that has to be admitted within recent times in the construction of houses is that Guyanese are building these with little or no attention paid to our low-lying coastal plain, which is below sea level, and the tropical environment. It has become a feature to see houses being built for style and not convenience. In this regard, it is not unusual to see houses here that are more appropriate for temperate environments such as North America and Europe. Such construction places a financial burden on the home-owner to properly ventilate their homes, necessitating the purchase of fans or air-condition units, which increase electricity consumption and cost.

Government may find it useful to look at constructing houses appropriate to the tropical environment, and with a ‘green economy’ focus factor on ventilation and energy-saving. Alternative energy supplies can examine solar energy, where panels are installed on the roof, giving persons the option to go fully solar or create hybrid energy (fossil and solar). Or it may be worthwhile to explore the possibility of establishing a solar grid specifically for some communities. Linden is well placed to experiment with alternative energy, given its energy bill. The employment of skills to build these houses allows the government to begin the streamlining of and bringing this category of labour into the formal economy and consistent with Employment Laws. Such compliance will see obligations being honoured to National Insurance Scheme, the Guyana Revenue Authority, Occupational Safety and Health Act, and so forth.

Waste management can entail testing the viability of moving away from septic tanks to that of building sewage plants. Doing this will bring Guyana into honouring its obligation under the Cartagena Convention in liquid sewage management. The placement of new communities is likely to see some displacement of the natural landscape. When this is being done, it would help to ensure efforts are undertaken to comply with sustainable management of the flora and fauna, and even waterways where they exist.

Guyana is moving into new territory, though it is returning to the value of building communities. Where the ‘green economy’ is being pursued as the developmental thrust, the possibilities are endless. The new terrain should be tackled, head-on, and with gusto, not only for the challenges that it will present, but the new frontiers and opportunities for growth and development.

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