$870B investment to construct 30k homes, open up lands in next 5 years – President Ali

– says average of 16 homes per day to be built

In the next five years, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government intends to spend over $870 billion to construct turnkey homes and open up new lands for house lots.

This is according to President Irfaan Ali on Thursday evening while addressing the opening ceremony of the International Building Expo 2025 at the Guyana National Stadium tarmac.
According to the Head of State, over the last five years, the PPP/C Administration was focused on delivering on its 2020 promise of distributing 50,000 house lots, which it has already surpassed, with the majority of these allocations going towards the young population – that is, persons below the age of 35.
In the next five years, the Ali-led Government will shift its focus from land ownership to homeownership. This will see direct support and the transfer of resources to families to build their homes as well as rehabilitate and extend existing homes.
In fact, President Ali disclosed that the PPP/C plans to construct at least 30,000 homes over the next five years. With these homes costing an average of $15 million each, this will see a total investment of some $450 billion to be spent solely on the construction of homes and the creation of some 150,000 jobs.
“Your next Government will enable the construction of, at a minimum, these 30,000 homes, creating 150,000 jobs, an investment of more than $450 billion, and delivering 16 homes per day,” Ali declared.
While these homes will be built for persons who have already been allocated their house lots, the President disclosed that there are still almost 80,000 applications pending in the system. This, he explained, would require the development of some 20,000 acres of land – an investment of another $420 billion.
“That is the development that we must invest in to satisfy these additional 80,000 lots that are required. Now, that gives you an understanding of the scale of this undertaking. This is not about driving around in a fancy car. This is careful planning… This is about precision. This is about continuous work around the clock.”
“So, whilst we are talking about 30,000 homes, we also have to develop 20,000 acres of land. When you add the two together… you get an investment of $870 billion – only for housing in the next five years,” he stated.
The Guyanese leader noted that his Government has already empowered locally owned small, medium and large contractors who will continue to benefit from these projects in the next term.

Savings
Over the past five years, the Government’s aggressive housing drive saw the allocation of nearly 53,000 residential house lots, along with 5000 commercial and industrial lots, with more than 21,000 leases, titles, and land transports processed.
Additionally, the current administration has already rolled out a number of initiatives to bring relief to Guyanese and make homeownership easier.
The Government’s intervention has seen commercial banks lowering their interest rates – something that has resulted in billions of dollars in savings for citizens.
Mortgage interest rate cuts saw low-income families who took out a $4 million loan save almost $4 billion collectively in interest rates, while those with the $9 million loan saved nearly half on their interest payments, and for the high- and middle-income loans at $30 million, savings are pegged at some $40 billion.
“When you look at $40 billion plus the low-income savings, it is $43.8 billion that we give you back directly in your pockets in interest rate savings as a result of the policies of the Government,” the President outlined.
Further, he noted that under the PPP/C, non-performing loans in the housing sector moved from 11 per cent in 2020 to now less than two per cent. In addition, commercial and residential mortgages grew by 90 per cent from $136 billion to $258 billion, while lending to the construction sector more than doubled from $9.2 billion to $22.2 billion during this period – all of this demonstrating confidence in the local economy, the housing sector and the construction sector.
“There is no other economy of scale, by per capita, that can speak to this level of success in the construction sector…[and] this level of success in the housing sector,” President Ali declared.