ACCESS to adequate housing is a basic human right and is considered essential for the attainment of other economic, cultural and social benefits.

With Guyana’s economy set to quadruple in the coming years, the government has started creating the conditions for Guyanese, particularly those persons within the low and middle-income brackets, to have access to the necessity, which is adequate housing.

A primary component of the government’s agenda in this regard is the enhancement and construction of infrastructure that accompanies housing. Those include roads, bridges, electricity, street lights, among other things.

During the five years preceding 2020, when house lots were distributed, there was a noted lack of preparatory works; this prevented new land owners from moving forward with construction of their homes because of inaccessibility to many schemes.

Cognisant of the challenges people would face due to the lack of infrastructure, the incumbent has been investing significant funds into new and existing housing schemes. This year alone, the Ministry of Housing and Water plans to spend over $14 billion to develop twenty-two housing schemes countrywide.

The works that this budget would cover include the rehabilitation of bridges, roads and drainage infrastructure, as well as the installation of facilities to accommodate utilities, since the government’s mandate is to ensure that all new and upcoming housing schemes are outfitted with the requisite facilities for new land owners to commence building.

Over the past two years, Guyana’s housing demand has grown exponentially and authorities have been responding appropriately to this surge.
It was reported that housing schemes at Cummings Lodge and Providence are expected to be completed this year end.

At Providence, 200 young professional houses are being constructed and all have been allocated, while in Cummings Lodge, over 100 elevated two-bedroom housing units are being built.
Further, land preparation in Amelia’s Ward and Great Diamond are ongoing before construction of housing units commences by the third quarter of 2022.

The government, since being elected to office in August 2020, has allocated a total of 10,063 house lots, while 1,266 land titles and transports were distributed in 2021 with plans to target 6,000 applicants in 2022.

Additionally, an Expression of Interest (EOI) seeking private developers to help accelerate the massive housing programme, was issued for individual developers, companies or consortiums to undertake projects under the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).

To ensure standards are maintained, those developers will be tasked with completing the projects within the given time period. According to the EOI, the areas identified for the upcoming projects are undeveloped lands on the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara.

This and other massive housing projects will be showcased during the country’s first Building Expo in over seven years. The expo, which will run from July 22 to 24, will give stakeholders an opportunity to see how the government has transformed the housing sector within a short period.

It will also bring all players into a single space and allow buyers, builders and sellers to meet and interact.