THOUSANDS of acres along the East Coast Demerara (ECD) corridor will soon be available for future allocation, Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal announced on Monday, during a cabinet outreach in the communities of Buxton and Friendship ECD.

While addressing land concerns from residents of the community and surrounding environs, the minister said that the allocations would commence by August.

“We have thousands of acres that will be available for future allocations on the East Coast starting as early as next month,” Croal told the large gathering.

He further explained to residents that the ministry has been working in a macro context to finalise lands for allocations across the country.

“It is not the case that we have not been allocating, but we have to do that in a macro context of achieving 50,000 as a government in these five years. We are currently finalising lands because we have to do this in conjunction with Guyana lands and survey as well as [Guyana Sugar Corporation] GuySuCo.”

Minister Croal said many job opportunities would soon follow with available lands.

“In addition to that, when we look at housing, it would be remiss of me to not look at the context of the job opportunities that come with housing.”

He said that, aside from the opportunities made through infrastructure, residents will also reap the benefits of industrial and commercial activities that are earmarked for the Enmore/Foulis community further along the East Coast Corridor.

“You also have the hub of industrial, commercial activities that will take place right within the Enmore/Foulis land area, that will see again thousands of job opportunities for persons from Buxton as well as on the East Coast,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the minister pleaded with residents to exercise patience as the ministry has been tasked with addressing an immense backlog of house lot applications at the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA)

“There will be opportunities, just have patience and all who are here and active will be dealt with.”

He added, “When we got into office, there were 70,000 pending applicants in our system as it is now there are 83,000 applicants.”

However, despite the backlog, Minister Croal said that the ministry, in under 18 months, has managed to make allocations to approximately 2600 persons on the East Coast Corridor.

“On the East Coast itself in under 18 months when you consider areas such as Balden Hall, Strathspey, Vigilance, on the East Coast we have allocated to over 2600 persons,” Minister Croal added.

The ministerial outreach, led by Prime Minister Mark Phillips includeded Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall S.C; Public Works Minister, Juan Edghill; Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony; Culture, Youth and Sport Minister, Charles Ramson Jnr; Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister, Oneidge Walrond; Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Nigel Dharamlall and Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy.

Residents were able to raise additional concerns about health, business development, tourism opportunities, infrastructural development, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), local governance, legal issues, sports, and education.