By Isaiah Braithwaite
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (DPI) – Minister within the ministry of housing and water, Susan Rodrigues on Friday assured residents of Mahaica-Berbice Region that the government is taking homeownership seriously.
The minister and a team of officers visited the region to examine lands with the view of addressing the backlog of over 3,500 house lot applications from the region.
During a meeting at Bush Lot, Blairmont and surrounding communities, the minister informed residents that over 4,800 acres of land were identified for housing development. However, she said that the government does not want to give house lots without electricity, roads and water.
“We take our mandate very seriously. We take home ownership very seriously and I stress homeownership because it is not about what has taken place over the last five years, which is giving you a piece of land that you do not know where it is, you have never seen it. Some of you have paid and have not seen your lot. That is not the approach that we want going forward.
This is why we spend time to make sure that we identify proper lands, lands that can easily be converted to housing, lands that you have access to utilities so that we can immediately commence construction and then once we have done the land clearing and done the infrastructural works, you can be able to start your own construction on your homes.”
Minister Rodrigues reminded residents that they have a constitutional right to acquire adequate housing. She pointed out that in just nine months, the government has allocated over 4,000 house lots compared to the mere 7,000 allocated under the previous administration.
The government in its manifesto, committed to allocating some 50,000 house lots over a five-year period, averaging 10,000 lots per year. The housing ministry has made budgetary provisions this year to develop lands in several regions countrywide. Some $455 million has been earmarked for housing development in Region Five.
Added to that, the government signed $13.9 billion in contracts to commence infrastructure works and construct housings units in Regions Three, Four, Five and Six.
Minister Rodrigues was accompanied by permanent secretary at the ministry, Andre Ally, member of parliament Faizal Jaffarally and technical staff from the Central Housing and Planning Authority.