Govt increasing focus on housing development along ECD – Croal

…as close to 50 new housing developments implemented since 2020

With house lot allocations on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) reaching saturation levels, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government is increasing its focus on accelerating housing developments on the East Coast. This is according to Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal.
During a recent interview to mark three years in office, Minister Croal spoke about the Government’s efforts to develop infrastructure in new housing areas. Specifically, Minister Croal revealed that almost 50 new areas have been developed during that period.
“When I talk about infrastructure, we’re talking about the establishment of new areas across the country. I can safely say in this short three years in office, we have established close to fifty locations of new areas, as part of our development. So, you see allocations being done. And then you see the infrastructure follow.”
“In our case when we got into office, we had to address allocation exercises that were done under the previous Government tenure, for which no infrastructure work was done. We had to address that. We’ve done that,” Minister Croal said.
According to Croal, every region has in fact seen the development of new areas. But with space on the East Bank running out, the Government is also concentrating on development on the East Coast.
“Let’s picture this scenario. Pick any area that you know, whether it’s on the East Coast since we’re concentrating a lot on the East Coast now. Because the East Bank has reached that point of saturation.”
“You go there, one the land was lying there previously with no development or it was used for sugar cane development. But the bottom line is, zero development. Virgin land. That’s the first thing.”
According to the Housing Minister, this complicated the PPP/C Government’s own work when they inherited Government from the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government. In addition, it meant the PPP/C had to devote even more of the budget towards infrastructure development in housing areas.
“So, you have to build access roads. That is why our infrastructure costs for development of these areas is much more. Because we’re starting from scratch. It’s not where we talk about rehabilitation. This is new development. So, on average, it’s about $3 million to $3.5 million is estimated for the infrastructure cost for every lot that is developing within the space you live.”
Minister Croal had recently revealed that three years of governance under the Irfaan Ali-led Administration has seen the delivery of over 24,000 house lots to Guyanese. Moving closer towards fulfilling its manifesto promise of 50,000 house lots in five years, the Minister had revealed, “On the eve of our third anniversary in Government, 24,116 house lots were delivered to date.”
Compared to the APNU/AFC’s delivery of 7534 lots in its entire five-year term, Croal had remarked that 1987 was distributed as a ‘gimmick’ leading up to the 2020 General and Regional Elections.
A breakdown of Government’s distribution reflected 719 in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 5099 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 15,010 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), 956 in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 1254 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 598 in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and 471 in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
He had pointed out that only three housing areas were developed under the former Administration – sections of Peters Hall, Prospect and Providence. Drawing contrast, the PPP/C Government has pushed aggressively to develop housing schemes in Onderneeming, Charity, Edinburgh, Cornelia Ida, Meten-Meer-Zorg, Anna Catherina, Stewartville, Great Diamond, Little Diamond, Non Pareil, Enterprise, Hope Cummings Lodge, Lusignan, Good Hope, De Endragt Golden Grove, Le Ressouvenir, La Reconnaissance, Blairmont, Shieldstown, Burma, Fort Ordnance, Number 75 Village, Number 76 Village, Lethem, Amelia’s Ward, among several areas, excluding areas under the 2023 work programme.(G3)