Housing Ministry in 15-acre land talks with GLSC, private owners for Cane Grove relocation

The Government’s long-promised regularisation of Cane Grove, Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), is moving into a decisive phase as the Ministry of Housing, through the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), works to secure at least 15 acres of land for the development of a formal housing scheme.
Subject Minister Collin Croal made the disclosure during a community engagement held Monday evening at the Virginia Primary School. The meeting was also attended by Minister within the Ministry Vanessa Benn, Health Minister Frank Anthony, Community Development Director Gladwin Charles, Surveyor Travis Fields, and Regional Democratic Councillor Neemawattie Baldeo.

The land acquisition, once completed, will facilitate the establishment of a formal housing scheme to support the wider Cane Grove regularisation programme.
According to Minister Croal, a 2023 structural inventory conducted by the housing authority recorded more than 50 unregularised structures in one section alone. Lands identified for potential relocation fall under state ownership but are presently leased to rice and cattle farmers, including a livestock cooperative body.
As part of the process, the Ministry is expected to begin consultations with agricultural leaseholders to align development goals while preserving livelihoods where feasible.
“So, we don’t have Guyana Lands Surveyor Offices there. So, we asked them to come because they are trying to help us. Now, it’s about 55 of you. It’s about 55 of you we have registered. So, we are, therefore, activating another mechanism, which means acquire. Because we already commit, we want to help you. You have a Government; you live here. We recognise that you want a better environment for yourself. You want your children to come up in their own home. And we want to help you. So, we will activate two mechanisms. We have one with a cattle farmer’s association. We will engage there. We have to get the ownership. We’re not aware who is the person. So, that we have to do some research. And then we are at the other portion. Either way, whichever one we can get,” Croal said.
Cane Grove, one of Region Four’s most expansive settlements, comprises multiple smaller communities, including Strathavon, Hopeland, Virginia, Coconut Dam, Manager Drive, Sawai, Waterside Dam, Cane Grove Estate, Granny Field, Back Street and other residential blocks.
The settlement’s origins trace back to its operation as a former sugar estate, which, up until 1930, housed thousands of indentured labourers under the Indian indentureship. When the estate ceased operations in 1946, an estimated 3000 residents remained behind, transitioning into small-scale crop and livestock farming, eventually shaping Cane Grove into a recognised agricultural hub.
Initial regularisation efforts commenced in 2011 within Cane Grove Estate and Coconut Dam, where cadastral and occupation surveys were completed by 2012 and more than 180 house lots were formalised. However, renewed interventions were required as residual squatting persisted in several pockets of the community.
Minister Croal explained that the Government is open to compensating private landowners for lots as part of the full regularisation efforts.
He told the gathering that the Government is trying to acquire a small portion of at least 15 acres of land to allow for the development of a housing scheme.
Since assuming office in August 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic has intensified long-running efforts to regularise squatting communities across Guyana, integrating these settlements into the country’s rapidly expanding formal housing framework.
Communities such as Cane Grove, Prospect, Herstelling, Parfaite Harmonie, and portions of Sophia are among the areas that have previously undergone varying stages of formal integration.
The PPP/C has repeatedly tied the regularisation drive to its broader manifesto target of delivering sustainable housing solutions, asserting that formalising squatting zones reduces vulnerability, expands economic mobility for families, enables long-term planning, and curbs the expansion of unregulated land occupation.