-over 300 land titles distributed
-600 apply for lands

By Jared Liddell
OVER 2,000 persons attended the government’s ‘Dream Realised Housing Drive 2020’ which concluded on Saturday at the Providence National Stadium on the East Bank of Demerara.
Scores of citizens lauded the two-day initiative, which was aimed at distributing land titles to persons who were allocated house lots. Persons who spoke with the Sunday Chronicle were pleased that they did not have to travel all the way to Georgetown to access their titles.
For Oslyne Ramlall, she believes that the housing drive pushed many one step closer to achieving the dream of owning their home.
“I think it’s a terrific idea; it speaks volumes of the government in terms of the government wanting people to acquire land, their own homes and overall wanting to see people progress. Everybody wants to be their own home owner, so allowing people access to the information they need and the places to apply and so on could only be a good initiative,” Ramlall told this newspaper.

Additionally, Derrek McWatt, a resident of the Essequibo Coast, said he has been trying to finalise his land allocation since 2009.
“I came from Essequibo to have the issue looked after. I have this matter there since 2009 and I haven’t gotten a positive word yet, but I’m optimistic; I hope it gets looked after. I met with the officials and they said I would receive a call back,” McWatt said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Housing, Collin Croal, during a press conference Saturday, deemed the initiative a success and announced plans to have it hosted across the country.
Minister Croal admitted that while the activity was initially slated to focus mainly on land titling, hundreds showed up to query their applications for land while some 600 also applied. Of the 600, 203 persons were interviewed while over 300 land titles were distributed.

“Persons are interested in what the Ministry of Housing and Water is doing and what we have to offer to the people of Guyana. Over these two days in combined services, whether it is meeting with the ministers, whether for interviews of new applicants, or even queries, we have seen over 2,500 persons,” the Housing Minister told reporters.
Echoing similar sentiments was Minister within the Ministry, Susan Rodrigues, who described the initiative as an “eye-opener,” adding that it allowed the ministers the opportunity to have a complete understanding of the demands of citizens.

Minister Rodrigues said it allowed the ministry to assess how it needs to respond to the needs of the people.
“It also gives us an understanding of the demand and how we need to respond and how quickly we need to roll out our programmes to bring relief to our citizens. And it also will lead to several reforms which we intend to make at the ministry so we can serve people better,” Minister Rodrigues told the news conference.
The aim of the government is to transform the housing landscape of Guyana and Minister Rodrigues said this must happen with pace. She said prospects of home ownership directly affect the construction sector which will provide not just opportunities for personal growth, but also job creation.

The initiative had received much flak for breaching COVID-19 guidelines given the large gathering of people but the officials noted that all necessary precautions were taken to curb the spread of the disease.