Dear editor,
JUST before taking office in August 2020, the government promised that it was going to work to provide at least 50,000 house lots to Guyanese, during this present term in office, and so far, it is more than on course to deliver. With Budget 2022 set to be presented today, the word is that “… the Government of Guyana is aiming to accelerate an already robust housing plan that will include the distribution of 15,000 house lots for the year.” This commitment came from Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal, when he detailed that “I’m pleased about what we’re doing so far. We’ve done a lot and if you think we’ve done a lot, wait till you see what we have planned for 2022. So last year when we started, we had to take stock of what was happening in the housing sector. And our examination showed nothing much was happening. We also had to re-examine our commitment and that is 50,000 allocations. And in addition to allocation, to construct houses.”

Collin Croal noted that work is not willy-nilly, as “Our initial budget focused on access roads and bridges to commence, even allocation exercises were done before, for which no infrastructure work was done. Then, in 2021, we had a number of allocations. In 16 months in office, we’ve allocated 10,000 house lots. This year, you will find we will allocate at least 15,000.”

Authenticating the input into the housing sector, one can see that there are more sand trucks traversing our roadways that what used to obtain during the pre-2020 era, between 2015 and 2018 specifically, and almost in every village housing projects are ongoing, and employment is rife for many who were put off when housing was quite dead.

Right now, there are 50 core homes being constructed, and a few of those are expected to be handed over in La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara (WBD), shortly. Also, the minister detailed that core homes are being constructed in Sophia, ECD, as well as on the WBD.

According to him, Budget 2022, which will be the third budget under the PPP Government in this current tenure, will be the largest budget of all and will outline development programmes and projects, both continuing and new, and housing the nation will be quite prominent — and to this I say, ‘why not’. The record shows that the Government of Guyana in 2021 processed close to 2000 titles and transports in its first year in office, while starting construction on 1,000 houses and conducting massive infrastructural work, all part of an over-$14 billion investment in the housing sector, which has paid off well for the general citizenry.

Let me add that buying or building a home is indeed a great achievement, as the many benefits that come with owning a home make it all worthwhile. Home owners, as we know, are building equity thereby and they possess better living security, as they contribute to the overall well-being of the nation.

Yours truly,
Alvin Hamilton