92% of house lots benefited low-to-moderate income earners – Rodrigues

The distribution of over 30,000 house lots by the current People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration since 2020 saw 92 per cent benefiting low-to-moderate income earners, thereby supporting the creation of new homeowners in the country.
Appearing on the Guyana Dialogue on Thursday evening, Minister within the Housing Ministry, Susan Rodrigues expressed that the objective was to give low-income earners access to affordable housing – an ideology that has been kept under successive PPP Governments.
“A mere eight per cent went to high-income applications…The 30,000 is just a number, but when you break it down and look at the impact that the housing programme has had on the lives of these people, then you really appreciate the bigger picture,” she disclosed.
From the 30,000 plus house lots allocated in just about three years, 54 per cent were granted to young persons. Some 50 per cent of allocations also encompassed single women.
There is a quota by the Ministry for consideration of servicemen and women in the allocation process. When new schemes are completed, they are equipped with first phase infrastructure, allowing beneficiaries to construct their homes. They also have access to water and electricity.
“In the second phase, you would have the upgrading of roads as people occupy their lots and complete their construction. We have the paving either with asphalt or concrete. The agreement of sale strictly prohibits the resale of your property until after 10 years. There is a 10-year restriction there until you can transfer,” she explained.
Government has moved ahead of its manifesto promise by constructing homes in several areas. There have been reduced interest rates for loans, removal of VAT on building materials, increasing the low-income ceiling for mortgages, increasing mortgage-interest release, and introduction of the steel and cement subsidies among other incentives.
She disclosed, “As it relates to our programme, we have an arrangement with our private developers who are building these homes. They have been approved by our project department. It has been designed by us in-house…This entire project is overlooked by our clerk of works and the banks. There is a lot of oversight in the housing construction aspect.”
To provide citizens with affordable housing alternatives, the Government intends to construct 2000 homes in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) by the end of 2024.
On the East Bank of Demerara, infrastructural projects for more than 5000 low, moderate, and middle-income residential house lots and industrial/commercial lots covering over 1700 acres of land are progressing.
Rodrigues pointed out that infrastructure has a direct impact on alleviating poverty and reducing inequalities. It is also linked to levelling the playing field for all citizens.
“When the Opposition talks about infrastructure, you would think that infrastructure is just roads and bridges. But when you dig deeper, the infrastructure spending that we are undertaking has a bigger objective. The bigger goal is to ensure that we have equitable distribution, that Guyanese can have a better quality of life and access to all of the services that Guyanese in other parts of the country have,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Minister also quelled concerns about potential discrimination in the award of house lots as she maintained, “There is no discrimination, whether based on ethnicity or religion or race or gender. We have effectively killed that criticism, because we have provided the data on our site.”
Government has previously said it was on track to deliver 50,000 house lots by the year 2025 in keeping with its manifesto commitment. (G12)