Dear Editor,

THE Hon. Dr. Ashni Singh, M.P., Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, on February 12, 2021, delivered the 2021 Budget to the parliament and the nation now look forward to the projects, plans, and policies that the State will fund through this year with excitement.
As a financial instrument, there are lots of provisions in the budget that requires regulatory procedures and processes that must be sanctioned before it can be executed.  I would like to take my hat off to the Ministry of Housing and Water and to the hard-working minister, Hon. Collin Croal and his team for once again coming to the rescue of so many homeowners who were misguided and fell prey to the visionless A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition chain of myopic ministers, whose inability to manage the housing sector between 2015 and 2020 is blatantly exposed as the homeowners who have been waiting in limbo for their titles after completing payment for their allocations, I refer especially to those residents who were allocated duplexes at Perseverance.
Our current act does not cater to that type of construction.

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) has more of a single ownership house. The CH&PA cannot accommodate a condominium scheme because the necessary legislation for those was not amended when the scheme was conceptualised.  These owners could not get their transfer upon completion of payment because the condominium regulations and miscellaneous provisions act chapter 36:22 doesn’t provide for the transfer of such homes.
Thanks to the insightful minister, and The Ministry of Housing and Water who is responsible for the regulatory aspects of the CH&PA and Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) is engaging the Attorney General’s Chambers, who are presently working on a draft amendment to the Condominium (Regulation and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act.

With the passage of the amendments, the ministry will now provide the CH&PA with the impetus to speak to the relevant stakeholders, including insurance companies, banks, and other financial institutions. This is called reversing the cart before the horse APNU+AFC syndrome. To put it simply, prudent management of a sector-led by a minister, who understands his mandate and is in tune with the current development in our country.
The relevant and needed amendments to the act would now empower owners of duplexes to access titles to their land, it would also permit commercial banks to accept those properties as collateral, insurance companies to issue policies to those homeowners, and allow those homeowners to access loans for repairs and expansion.
Once again let me register my thanks to the Hon. Minister Collin Croal and the People Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) for their vision.

Yours sincerely,

Haresh Singh