437 house lots allocated in Bartica under PPP/C vs 18 in APNU/AFC’s 5 years

…Opposition trying to rewrite failed track record – Housing Minister

Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal has sharply criticised the housing record of the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration, contrasting it with recent allocations made under the current People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government. He stated that 437 house lots have already been allocated in Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), compared to just 18 lots over five years under the previous administration.
The Minister gave the statistics during a recent ‘Dream Realised’ activity at the Bartica Airstrip, where over 300 beneficiaries from 5-Miles South and Tract Bar were allocated house lots. Additionally, the Government is developing 93 new housing units in Bartica, and major infrastructure works are set to begin by month-end, with land access promised before year’s end.

He was at addressing a recent opinion article by former APNU/AFC Housing Minister Annette Ferguson, published in local media.
“Annette writes in every week, every month, and expects to change the track record of the APNU/AFC for what they did for housing… In this year, so how many months we are in today, so we’re in the sixth month, in six months, starting today, we have allocated just under 8,000. Let me give you an example, we have allocated 7,901 lots, the APNU/AFC Government for which Annette is so proudly writing about, allocated in five years, 7,534, what we’ve done six months in this year, they’ve done for five years, and many of those 7,005 was in the run up, and I’ll give you, I’ll come to that in the run up to the 2020 elections, to date, I’m starting in this allocation today, for Bartica, we have allocated as of now, 437 lots here in Bartica, the APNU AFC Government in five years, allocated 18 lots,” the Minister said.
Further, in response to Opposition’s claims that current allocations are politically timed “election gimmicks,” Croal pointed out that unlike in 2019 when APNU/AFC hurried to allocate 2,040 lots during the caretaker period, the PPP/C has consistently delivered housing since taking office.
Croal also tackled claims that allottees cannot access lands and loans, noting that Government raised the mortgage ceiling from $12 million to $30 million, cutting interest rates for low-income mortgages from over 6 per cent to just over 3 per cent and partnered with the New Building Society and other banks to fast-track financing for Government-built homes.
“So in this article it says, the allocations have been done, and basically, lands, the lands that have been shared, well they said shared, well the words allocated, are inaccessible, due to a lack of basic infrastructure, despite 240 billion injection in the housing sector since 2020, well I’m happy, I am happy that Annette acknowledged that we have injected over 240 billion in the housing sector, because, in their five years, the first time and the only time they injected some resources for infrastructure work, for, for allocation that they had done, was in the run up, at the end of 2019, was in the run up to the 2020 election,” he added.
The PPP/C Government has exceeded its house lot target in under five years, with more than 50,000 lots already allocated countrywide.
Of that number, more than 21,500 of the lots distributed have gone to youths aged between 21 and 35 years old.
The administration has since committed to distributing an additional 30,000 house lots between 2026 and 2027, with an emphasis on meeting the housing needs of young people.