Housing Ministry boosting capacity to ensure quality houses are built, tackle fraud

…as House approves billions for land acquisition, regularisation

The Housing Ministry has been strengthening its monitoring capability to ensure quality works are produced, especially on the construction of houses, as well as to clamp down on fraud within the agency.
Housing Minister Collin Croal gave these assurances on Wednesday evening during the consideration of the budget estimates for his Ministry in the Committee of Supplies. At the time, he was asked by Opposition Member Sherod Duncan from the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) about allocations to boost oversight at the Ministry.
“Quality control is important. I’m not naive to a lot of complaints that we’ve had recently, for example, with the houses. So, we’re cognisant of what is required to ensure that we have the best value,” the Housing Minister noted in response, adding, “But we have strengthened our monitoring.”
According to Croal, the staff complement at his Ministry has significantly gone up, especially in the Project Department, to enhance its monitoring capability.
“We are doing a restructuring on the Project Department. [And the] Housing Unit now will be further strengthened with some additional clerks of works as well as engineering technicians to be able to effectively help with the monitoring on the construction side simultaneously, because while we have infrastructure works on the roads, our increased workload now includes the houses,” he stated.
Moreover, the Housing Minister added that they are also working with the Public Works Ministry to recruit new graduates from the University of Guyana (UG) in order to build capacity.
Additionally, through the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), there is a weekly meeting convened by the Housing Ministers to review all the projects under the Ministry. This is further bolstered by a new platform introduced by the Government whereby all projects are listed and real-time information is provided, such as whether there are delays.
“So, we have beefed up in terms of review, but this is done weekly now because quality control is important,” Croal posited.

Go after fraudsters
Similarly, Croal said efforts are being strengthened to clamp down on fraud both within the Ministry and externally.
But while he noted that the Ministry staff now have to sign a Code of Conduct and its Enforcement Department has been bolstered to include a former senior Guyana Police Force official at the helm to go after fraudsters, they still face challenges that hinder these efforts.
“There are a lot of times when the witnesses are required to give the necessary statement to take to completion in terms of being able to prosecute someone, and that’s where we’re lacking,” the Minister noted.
He went on to “…encourage persons to please, if you have encountered or you have been approached, feel free to engage our Enforcement Department or directly the Guyana Police Force.”
Despite this, however, Croal said that they have had some recent successes in terms of clamping down on fraud within the CHPA.

Mandate 2026
Meanwhile, the Committee of Supply on Wednesday evening greenlights the $159.4 billion allocation for the Housing Ministry to execute its mandate this year. Within a $150 billion allocation is some $2.275 billion that will go towards land acquisition for the development of new housing schemes, which will help tackle the 75,000-plus backlog within the system.
Another $1.1 billion is allocated for the regularisation of informal settlements, with Minister Croal telling the House that for this year, they are targeting the Lima Sand Housing Scheme, Walton Hall, Mariah’s Lodge in Region Two; Plantation Best, Pouderoyen Reserve and Vergenoegen Sea Defence in Region Three; Non Pareil (Coldingen), Mon Repos Railway Line, Vigilance, Bladen Hall, Strathspey, Beterverwagting, Foulis in Region Four, and Ituni, Comaka, Siberian, New Hardin, Silver Hill, Amelia’s Ward, Block 43 in Region 10, among others.
“So, we intended to address all these areas this year…for regularisation,” Croal noted.
When it comes to zero tolerance areas, the Ministry will be relocating persons from the Plastic City, Best Railway Line, Greenwich Park Sea Defence, Anna Catherina Sea Defence, Zeelught Sea Defence and Reserve, Zeelught Burial Ground, Corneila Ida Sea Defence, Ruby Back Dam, Tuschen Sea Defence, Plantation Vergenoegen, Good Hope Drainage Reserve, Wallers Delight Drainage Reserve, and Parika Sea Dam, among others in Region Three.
“In all of those areas… we have identified that those persons have to relocate. Those are what we call zero tolerance”, the Housing Minister stated.
According to Croal, there is an aggressive programme to address squatting across the country with the same aggression that is being applied to addressing those applications that came through the system.
“Sometimes, some of the squatting that we have, it can be addressed quickly. It will be helpful if leaders, and more so political leaders, also encourage these squatters to do the right thing,” the Housing Minister stated after he was asked by APNU’s Terrence Campbell about provisions for squatters during relocation.
Additionally, these $150 million also include monies for rollover projects and some $48.2 billion for new initiatives, as well as $2.65 billion allocated for the infrastructure for utilities in new areas and a further $5.4 billion for infrastructure upgrades in existing areas.
Moreover, the Housing Ministry’s budget also contains a further $7.5 billion set aside for subsidies to citizens to assist with the construction of new homes, including the steel and cement initiative, as well as assistance for repairs and home improvements that was introduced this year.