– a new lease on life for newest gov’t house lot allottees

By Cassandra Khan
IN keeping with government’s promise to allocate 50, 000 house lots by 2025, the Ministry of Housing and Water, on Wednesday, held an allocation exercise for residents from Unity to Nootenzuil.

The event, which was held at the Hope Secondary School, also provided a forum for residents to raise house-related matters, including those with outstanding ownership issues regarding the lands they are occupying in Plantation Hope – Cum Annexis.

According to the ministry, more than 150 house lots were expected to be allocated in Hope Block 6 and Block A and B.
Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, related that within just two years in office, close to 15,000 house lots have been allocated, and by the midpoint of the government’s term, the 25, 000 goal should be reached and ultimately 50,000 by 2025.

For the exercise, an entire team from the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CPHA) was on hand on attend to residents.
In terms of water-related issues, the minister related that the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) has a macro plan for the region as well as for the East Coast of Demerara.

He related that they had recently announced the coastal water treatment at an outreach in Melanie, which set the target to have treated water moved from 52 per cent to 90 or 95 per cent at a cost of $28 billion.

“We have an ongoing study right here for the use of the Hope Canal as a point for freshwater use as a constant source and then be able to harness that,” he said.
With plans to eventually have a water treatment plant for that “end of the East Coast”, studies are showing they will be able to most likely place a plant somewhere at the back of Lowland at the conservancy.

“So, this study shows a positive and that we will be able to tap in to that source for water and so far, we’re looking at the site of somewhere close to the conservancy. I am pleased about what is happening so far because once we are able to move to that next year, then we can apply the necessary funding to advance the studies, but, in the meanwhile the coastal water supply for untreated water is moving smoothly,” Minister Croal explained.

Meanwhile, the Guyana Chronicle spoke to a few of the attendees who received their house lots on Wednesday, after years of waiting.
Narendra Naresh Persaud applied in 2011 and has happily received his allocation. He related that he got the call from the ministry on Friday night stating that they will be giving out lands.
Persaud is glad that he got his land because according to him, by Christmas there will be more flooding in the area where he currently resides.

“We gah line board to walk where we living. All the farm does flood out so where we living, we can still do the farming and live out here,” he said.
According to 51-year-old Indira Mohabir, she opted to change her 2012 application in 2021 to low-income because things were not going so well for her.
“I was going housing one time a month and I keep waiting and I get a call on Monday to come here and I was so happy,” Mohabir explained.

She thanked the ministers and the Government of Guyana, noting that she needed the lot to build her own house as she is struggling to pay her rent. Mohabir makes tamarind balls which are sold at supermarkets.

Additionally, Gowmattie Singh like many of the recipients was happy to get her land as she is renting the house she is living in.
“When rain fall is [flood]. I have to wear long boots to go downstairs,” she added.

Ecstatic was the most suitable word to describe how 38-year-old Sonia Ishrilall of Mahaica felt when she received a “random phone call” telling her that they (CH&PA) would be “sharing out land.”

She explained that she lives with her in-laws and has three children, so, space is limited. The self-employed woman said that she expects to start building her own house as soon as possible.