– as gov’t assists over 2,200 Region Six residents with various issues

OVER the two-day Presidential Outreach to Region Six, East Berbice Corentyne, hundreds of residents had the opportunity to voice their concerns over housing-related matters at the Ministry of Housing and Water, Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) booth at State House in New Amsterdam.

However, on Friday, a large number of persons from across Berbice were given their land titles and transport, many of whom have waited for several years.

Among the beneficiaries were seventy-four-year Sanichar Kapil Dev and his wife Parbattie, 71, who waited nearly thirty years to receive their land titles.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, Mrs Kapil Dev said she was happy to receive and felt at peace knowing she had something tangible after many years of waiting.

“If meh die now meh get something to left fuh meh children. Since 1992 meh go with meh four children and squatting and live. God bless me now that meh own a title. I feel so happy God bless the President and all the Ministers and everyone who ah help people to get their stuff”, she said.

Another recipient, Yvonne Mickle , 69, of Mount Sinai, said the first thing she did was take a picture of the title and send it to her family as she was delighted with joy.

Mickle, who once lived in a squatting area, said that now that she had received a title, it was a great feeling of accomplishment.

Hemwattie Gurdial, of Mount Sinai, New Amsterdam, expressed similar sentiments while noting that having a document with power will allow her to access more services easier.
“I feel so happy, I could do anything now even go to the bank and get a loan”.
Nirmala Devi Sanichar, 47, of Johns, Corentyne Berbice, expressed gratitude to the staff at the Ministry of Housing and, at the same time, noted she was proud to be the official owner of her land.
“This is really important for me to get, and I am so happy. I want to thank everyone who help out for me to get this. Since 2013 I have applied for it. I feel so proud. Monday, I gotta come to collect the transport”.

Meanwhile, CHPA Chief Executive Officer, Sherwyn Greaves, said that the two days of outreach were very successful and informative. He noted that they were able to identify some bottlenecks within the system, and solutions were being put in place to avoid a reoccurrence while ensuring the process is swift and smooth as possible for everyone.

“We also see the need to beef up the employees in the Region. It is certainly inadequate to handle the volume of work that the Region has, and we will be doing more work, as the President alluded to, so we obviously have to place more staff in the Region. We have to be more proactive, and we in Georgetown have to pay a bit more attention to what is happening outside of Georgetown so persons can be better served,” he explained.

He added that several titles and house lots were distributed for housing schemes and regularised squatting areas. Further, there were fifty on the spot house allocations in Hampshire, Corentyne, and 30 on-the-spot land allocations in the Number 75, 76 areas and, Sheildtown and Experiment in Region Five, to the delight of the recipients.

The CHPA CEO assured residents who could not receive their titles that the team would return on Monday to continue the exercise.

For the two days of outreach, over 2,200 persons were attended to in dealing with issues from various agencies under the government of Guyana, including the National Insurance Scheme, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Public Infrastructure, National Drainage and Irrigation Authority and General Registration Office among others.