5300 residents of Great Diamond, Golden Grove to begin accessing house lots by year-end

…$17B expended to clear land, do infrastructural works

Allottees at six blocks in Great Diamond and Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara (ECD), will begin accessing their lands by the end of the year, according to Housing Minister Collin Croal.
The Minister made this revelation while inspecting ongoing infrastructural works in the areas on Friday, where he was accompanied by a staff from the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).
These works, amounting to close to $17 billion, include land clearing, the construction of access roads and the installation of pipe networks, benefitting around 5300 persons in various income brackets.
The Minister visited Great Diamond Blocks One, Three and Five, where more than half of the work in the areas is completed, paving the way for the commencement of the lot identification. The remaining allottees can expect access early in the new year.
However, regarding Great Diamond Block Seven, the Minister expressed dissatisfaction with the sluggish work of contractors, as works are slated to be completed by the end of the year. While acknowledging initial challenges such as swamped lands and poor access, Minister Croal emphasised that these obstacles were addressed and contractors behind the deadline will be held accountable.
Meanwhile, at Golden Grove Block Nine, allottees are also poised to gain access to their land by year-end, with most preparatory works finalised, requiring only a few finishing touches on the road network. The ongoing works at Golden Grove Block 11, segmented into four lots, are also nearing completion. Minister Croal has committed that lot identification in this block will commence in early December.
Finally, Golden Grove Block 13 is also progressing so that allottees can begin construction soon. A number of individuals who were allocated Golden Grove Block 18 will also now occupy this area due to challenges faced by the low-lying land at Block 18. Lot identification across these areas will be conducted in tranches.
The PPP/C Government has committed to delivering 50,000 house lots to Guyanese within its first term in office. It entered office when there was a backlog of over 76,000 applications. Having distributed almost 30,000 lots, there are approximately 57,000 pending house-lot applications.
In August, the Ministry outlined that infrastructural works are ongoing in several schemes along the East Bank of Demerara to accommodate more than 5000 low, moderate and middle-income residential house lots and industrial/commercial lots, spanning some 1700 acres of land.