Written by Nadine Sanchara
EIGHT hundred and forty-four families were a step closer to owning their own homes after being allotted house lots in Zeelugt Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo, yesterday.

The allotment took place when the Ministry of Housing and Water conducted another ‘One Stop Shop’ at Uitvlugt Community Centre, West Coast Demerara, under the theme ‘Live the Guyanese dream, home ownership made easier.’

Addressing a gathering of mostly first-time home owners, President Donald Ramotar said it is the strong belief of his Government that, if the country is to develop and advance further, it is the people who will be called upon to make it a better and stronger nation.
As such, he said the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has been investing heavily in sectors like education, health and housing.
According to the Guyanese Head of State, yesterday was a very important day, particularly for those acquiring house lots for the first time, since it represents an important step in the process towards home ownership.
He noted that, having one’s own home takes away a lot of the insecurities faced when renting or living in others’ homes.

“We believe that, when you have that security of your own home, that you have greater peace of mind and you can produce and work more to develop yourself and your country,” Mr. Ramotar remarked.
He observed that, on the initiative of the Government, many facilities have been put in place to make home ownership easier for Guyanese people, including concessional interest rates from the banks for low and middle income families.
President Ramotar explained that the Government will not charge taxes on the interest earned by banks from mortgages taken by low and middle income earners, thus making it possible for the banks to offer lower interest rates.
He pointed out that, in addition to the allocation of house lots, much is being done for the Region 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) area, disclosing that resurfacing of the entire West Demerara highway will begin early next year.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Moreover, he announced that the Government is also working to create more employment opportunities for the people of that Region and pointed out that, when laying of the fibre optic cable to Georgetown

is completed, it will stretch from Charity in Essequibo to Crabwood Creek on the Corentyne Coast in Berbice, making more modern technology available to people in those areas.
President Ramotar encouraged the house lot recipients that, as they take up residence in their new communities, to make them models, advising against littering and other acts that can clog drains and affect the entire surroundings.
Meanwhile, Minister of Housing and Water, Mr. Irfaan Ali disclosed that his ministry has completed dealing with the backlog of applications for house lots and those allocated yesterday were made up to, and including, June 2011.
He acknowledged that there is still a lot of work to be done in Region 3 but assured that the PPP/C Government remains committed to ensuring that every single Guyanese owns their own home.
However, he said it is important to ensure that that commitment is shared among all stakeholders and political parties, as well.
“More and more, in our society, we are seeing a lot of petty politics and politics that can derail the development process, politics that can harm the development process of Guyana. But I want to assure you that we…this Government, the PPP/Civic Government, is going to stay committed to a politics that bring great improvement in the living conditions and livelihood of people all across this country,” minister Ali said.
The minister stated, further, that for the Government, the most important indicators are housing, water, health and education, which remain top priorities.

NEW MODEL
He said as 844 house lots were being allocated in Phase Three of the Zeelugt Housing Scheme, the Housing Ministry will be adopting a new model based on lessons learnt from experiences over the years.
This model, he stated, involves allocating the land simultaneously while the infrastructure is being done.
In that way, the infrastructure can be done while persons are accessing loans and preparing their plans for their houses.
Ali said the Ministry of Housing realised that, when the infrastructure is done before the allocation of land, persons would have to wait for a period of between six months to one year before they can access a loan from a bank. In the meantime, the infrastructure lies idle and can be damaged.
He related that the Government is investing $700M in the development of infrastructure for the target area, in addition to the $20M already invested for land clearing, while an even further investment of $54.7M, for electricity, is presently at the tendering stage.
Ali said house lots for the low income and lower middle income categories given out yesterday, cost allottees between $92,000 to $300,000. However, for every household, the Government made an input of $829,383.
“In this investment, taking into consideration the expenditure that the Government is going to make to make these lots available, take into consideration the revenue we will get…there is a difference of $537M. So we will make a loss of $537M but, for this Government that is not a loss because we are investing in your lives and your future,” he told the beneficiaries.
This loss, Ali said, is the subsidy that the Government pays for the people, adding that, for every lot in Phase Three of the Zeelugt Housing Scheme, there is an average subsidy of 76.7 percent.
That being so, persons are only paying 24 percent of the land value, since each house lot is actually valued $805,000.
“When some of those who try to stymie national development ask where the taxes and the revenues go, here is where they go. Under this People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government, we are using those revenues to invest in you and your families,” he maintained.
The minister said that in addition to the allocation of the house lots in Zeelugt, approximately 300 more are also being developed at Zeeburg, on the West Coast of Demerara, at a cost of $240M and the land clearing has already been completed at a cost of $10M.
Ali revealed that the Government is developing lands at Lust En Rust, also in Region 3, where, by the end of this year, another 1,207 house lots, developed at a cost of $800M, are expected to be ready.
By the end of 2013, he said the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) of the Housing Ministry would have delivered some 2,400 new house lots in Region 3.

MANIFESTO PROMISE
Moreover, in relation to the PPP/C manifesto promise of delivering 30,000 house lots to the Guyanese people in the next five years, counting from 2011, the Government would be ahead of that target by almost 14.5 percent, he said.
He also stated that there are other ongoing investments in Region 3, among them road upgrades in several areas, representing an investment of $600M. Altogether, the Government is investing some $2.9 billion in the Region 3 housing sector during the course of this year.
He pointed out, too, that the new highway, which will serve as an alternative access route to Parfait Harmonie, is 75 percent complete and represents an investment of close to $500M.
Ali told the gathering that the process of allotting house lots is open and transparent and there is a clause in the Agreement of Sale which states that, if any person is discovered to have misrepresented any information on their application, any monies paid will be forfeited and they will not be granted any house lots.