Housing Ministry hits 10,000 house lot target for 2022

…600 persons granted lots at Plantation De Endragt

The Housing and Water Ministry is wrapping up 2022 with the success of distributing more than its targeted 10,000 house lots for the year.
On Tuesday, the final “Dream Realised” Housing Drive for the year was rolled out at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica)

With a plan of allocating 50,000 house lots in its five-year term in office, this translates to 10,000 per year. Housing Minister, Collin Croal shared that Government has already surpassed its annual target.
He announced, “To date, we have allocated more than 10,000 in this calendar year. By the time we’re finished on December 31, we are hoping to end the year with a total allocation of 20,500.”
Since Government took office in 2020, the Ministry has started the process of establishing about 16 new housing areas across Regions Three, Four, Five and Six. For just the East Coast, where seven of these schemes are being developed, some $10 billion has already been expended for first phase infrastructural works.
Nevertheless, he contended, “Government has ensured that the commitments we have made to reduce the backlog in application for house lots is kept. To do this, we introduced more home construction to meet the demands of citizens and despite these key interventions, more need to be done to improve the lives of our citizens.”

Apart from housing, strides are made to enhance the overall living conditions of persons across the region. Within the next 12 months, an estimated $13 billion will be invested in Region Four to provide reliable water supply, expected to benefit 300,000 citizens.
Some 179 contracts are to be signed to the value of $5.9 billion for the upgrade of 257 roads amounting 113,000 metres across Region Four in areas such as Eccles, Farm, Covent Garden, Herstelling, Prospect, Good Hope, Lusignan, Diamond, Non Pareil, Perseverance among others.
Minister within the Housing Ministry Susan Rodrigues highlighted the advantages of acquiring a plot of land, adding that the value will only increase.
“From the time you acquire your house lot and the value that you pay, it is already worth more than you paid for it because it is heavily subsidised by the Government. You are making an instalment. You are making an investment that from the time you achieve it, it is already worth more.”

During the exercise, some 600 persons were allocated lots at Plantation De Endragt, between the Mon Repos-La Reconnaissance area, which has capacity for 1000 residential lots, commercial and industrial lots, space for schools, and places of worship. The lots ranged from low, middle and moderate income.

Permits, single window
Meanwhile, the Housing Minister also announced that the online portal for the single window construction permit mechanism will be ready soon.
“By the end of this week, we are expected to sign a contract that will deal with the electronic aspect of it, that is, a dashboard so when you have an application, one can be able to login at any particular time. You can know the status of your application or at which agency we are expecting a response or feedback.”
Last week Monday, the Planning and Development Single Window System Bill of 2022 was presented in the National Assembly by Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal. When passed, it would create a central point at which persons can process construction documents and expedite the building process.
Commenting on this development, he shared, “I don’t think persons really understand how much impact this Bill will have on the people of Guyana. This single window is to aid in ensuring that we have efficiency in our system; we have predictability so that those of you who are embarking on specific construction do not have subjectivity of having to depend on any officer.”
“It is also intended to tackle the issue of when you’re seeking approval from local authorities, one of the bugbears is waiting on the no objections from the local authorities. Enshrined in that will be the regulations that will find and state the particular time by which we must have response.”
According to the particulars of the Bill, it is the creation of a single window electronic processing system to increase business efficiency, as the housing and construction industries are expanding rapidly.
The Bill will also provide for the establishment of the Planning Oversight Committee, the functions of which are defined in the document. It is envisioned that this committee will centralise functions relating to land use preparation and development and matters associated with it.
Officials have noted the increase in applications for permits, a significant portion of which were for the oil and gas sector. This increased workload necessitates an automated system.