Hinterland housing programme: 20 Region 1 families receive new homes
…more distribution in coming weeks – Housing Minister
Twenty Region One (Barima-Waini) families are embracing a new chapter of comfort as they received keys to their new homes over the weekend.
Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal handed over the keys to the families and according to him, the investment on each house is about $4 million.
Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal and Region One Chairman Brentnol Ashley share a photo with residents who received one of the new houses
He also said that the constructive works are derived from budgetary allocations and within the next upcoming weeks more houses will be given to families.
“To date…here in Barima-Waini brings to total handing over of 40 houses as part of the 400 and we have the first 125 that are nearing completion so within the next few weeks you’ll see even more being handed over,” he said, explaining that a significant point that must be understood is that the hinterlands program implementation is slightly different from the program on the coast as the procedure for payment varies.
“The implementation of the hinterland program is a little dissimilar from what is happening on the coast and because those persons have to go through the bank or have a pre-qualification to be able to pay for their houses, in this case it’s in the village council land area so the individual ownership cannot be ascertained,” he stated whilst adding that residents in Barima-Waini cannot take a document to the bank to get a loan. However, he added that due to this dilemma, government had to derive a massive housing, hinterland housing program.
Meanwhile, Croal explained that another aspect of the initiative is that there has been a distinct support in the village’s economy regarding the natural resources that are being used.
“Another aspect of this initiative is that we are supporting the village economy so the construction of the hinterland houses locality are being taken into consideration, and materials they have, if you go to Region 9 you’ll see us pushing the clay blocks houses,” he expressed whilst then adding that is has been so because that community has the soil type to produce blocks as part of their economic growth, whereas within communities such as Barima-Waini, wood has been used to construct the houses in that area due to the wide range of wood available. (G2)
