–as gov’t remains on track to deliver 50,000 house lots

COME 2022, the Government of Guyana will be looking to expend close to $28 billion on additional infrastructural works needed to further develop a number of housing schemes along the East Bank of Demerara.

This is according to Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, who indicated that already, tenders have been issued for works to be done in Plantation Golden Grove and Little Diamond and Great Diamond, respectively. “[This] will form part of the 2022 budgetary programme,” Croal said during the commissioning ceremony of the Diamond to Mocha interlink road on the East Bank of Demerara.

According to the minister, the intended expenditure will also cover construction of the new Eccles to Great Diamond four-lane highway.
Additionally, Croal said that works are already being done to ensure that the new housing areas are outfitted with the requisite utilities, including especially, potable water. “Drilling of a new well has started in Providence and another in Diamond, and the water networks in several other areas are being upgraded,” Croal said.

He noted too that once completed, those wells will result in some communities on the East Bank of the Demerara River receiving potable water for the very first time, while others will benefit from improved service delivery.

“We are upgrading water-treatment plants in Eccles, Covent Garden and Grove to increase the treated-water coverage, and improving levels of services in and around the surrounding areas, because we want you to be comfortable in your homes when you build them,” the minister posited.
Croal informed those gathered at the commissioning ceremony of the new interlink road that since assuming office in August, 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has allocated some 10,000 house lots to the people of Guyana.

As it is, Croal said that the work of his ministry is well on track to ensure that the government is able to fulfil its manifesto promise of distributing at least 50,000 new house lots by 2025. “This project is only one of the many interventions that our government has embarked on to make the lives of citizens in this area more comfortable,” Croal said.

ALREADY COMPLETED
Moreover, the minister went even further to provide an update on current housing projects: he indicated that in the locality of Prospect, at least 50 of the 100 low-income houses being built have already been completed, while construction works are in progress for the remaining 50. “… and in Little and Great Diamonds, 522 similar houses are in various stages of preparation,” Croal said, adding that works on these homes will begin during the first quarter of 2022.

Croal noted too that mobilisation of 140 houses for young professionals has also commenced in Prospect, while works have started on 100 of the 200 homes projected for Providence.

Minister Croal told the Guyana Chronicle previously that for 2021, more than $14 billion was being spent to develop some 22 housing schemes across the country. The initial infrastructural works include the construction, and in some cases, the rehabilitation of roads, bridges and drainage infrastructure, as well as the installation of facilities to accommodate utility services such as water and electricity.

This is to ensure that all new and upcoming housing schemes are accessible and outfitted with the requisite amenities for new land owners to commence construction of their homes.

It was noted that over the past couple of years, although house lots were distributed, lack of preparatory works prevented new land owners from moving forward with construction of their homes, largely owing to the inaccessibility of many of the schemes.

The ongoing developments within the housing sector are components of what has been described as one of the largest investments in the housing sector in just one year.

Access to adequate housing has long been viewed as a basic human right, and is considered an integral factor for the enjoyment of other economic, social and cultural rights. And, with Guyana’s economy poised to quadruple in the coming years, the government has started establishing the conditions for Guyanese, especially from the low and middle-income brackets, to have access to adequate housing.

Also a critical component of government’s housing drive is the establishment of adequate interconnecting road networks such as the Diamond to Mocha interlink, which was commissioned by President Dr. Irfaan Ali early on Monday morning.