–Min. Croal says event was a ‘big success’

AROUND 5,000 persons were recipients of house lots over the last four days, as part of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA)’s “Dream Realised” programme conducted during the International Building Expo 2022.

This is according to Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal on Tuesday during the closing press conference for the International Building Expo which was held from July 22 to July 26 at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara.

The “Dream Realised” activity was hailed a resounding success, as the CH&PA was able to achieve its primary goals of allocating land and titles where necessary.
According to Minister Croal, this process involved a lot of work and effort by staff of the CH&PA.

“They had to work, ensuring that they can push ahead so that we can make dreams come true; that’s why we came up with the name “Dream Realised” to make the aspirations and dreams of persons one that they can look forward to,” Minister Croal said, adding that persons can rest assured that once they have an application in the system, they will be called.

CH&PA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sherwin Greaves said that based on the testimonials of those persons who would have been allocated house lots and received their titles many aspiring homeowners would have left the ‘Expo’ over the past three days very happy.

He declared that the ministry was able to achieve its target in terms of house lot allocations, and to get close to 5,000 done. Allocations, he said, even continued on the final day of the ‘expo’, and was expected to surpass the target.

Giving further details, Greaves said that allocations were done in Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Four (Demerara-Mahaica), and, as it relates to titles, some 750 were given out. In this category, he added that they were hoping to do more, however, that activity will continue at their offices.

“But, all in all, the Dream Realised activity was a great success. Kudos must be given to the staff who worked into the wee hours of the morning every day to get this activity completed. I’m sure that everyone left happy,” the CEO said.

Additionally, Minister Croal advised persons who applied for housing solutions or lots to begin putting aside funds in order to be able to pay their small fee once they are called by CH&PA.

Meanwhile, the International Building Expo was also hailed as a success by Minister Croal, who said that there was a large turnout from the public on all days that the expo was hosted.

He said too that there was participation at the expo from international and regional companies along with local companies, noting that all of the 356 exhibitor spaces that were set were sold out.

This, Croal said, now shows that the International Building Expo is back on track and will be hosted again in the future.