Housing Ministry to strengthen monitoring capacity – Croal

– as works progress on houses at Silica City, Phase 2 designs underway

With the new People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration aiming to build some 40,000 houses over the next five years, the Ministry of Housing is looking to strengthen its monitoring capacity to ensure that quality homes are delivered to Guyanese citizens. On Sunday, the Housing Minister conducted a site visit at the highly-touted Silica City, where some 110 homes are under construction along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. While inspecting the works, Croal underscored the importance of building quality homes.

“This visit is aimed at providing an update on the construction of 110 houses at Silica City. We’re focusing on various stages of construction and assessing the quality of work… As part of our mandate, the construction of houses will play a major role in terms of fulfilling our target for this period [in office]. So, it therefore means we’ll have to do some strengthening at our Project Department,” he stated.
According to Minister Croal, the Housing Ministry has been receiving a lot of feedback from existing homeowners on the quality of work done during the last term. To this end, he revealed plans to establish action sheet system that will track progress and identify issues in these construction projects.
“So, we want to ensure that quality [work] is part of what we’re delivering on …and we’ll be strengthening that aspect of the Project Department, because monitoring is very important. We don’t want when the houses are complete, then you have the beneficiaries complaining about the quality. This is something we should be picking up very early,” he posited.

Quality work takes time
Meanwhile, Sunday’s site visit served as a familiarisation tour for newly-appointed Minister within the Housing Ministry, Vanessa Benn, who got a first-hand view of the works ongoing at Guyana’s first sustainable and secondary city. She too underscored the importance of ensuring quality products are delivered to citizens. “My goal is not just to monitor progress but to assist staff in overcoming challenges that may hinder quality construction. Quality does require more time, but improving efficiency within the Ministry is a key focus,” she stated.
In fact, Minister Benn explained that the Ministry is already looking at ways to make the processes there more efficient specifically through the digitisation of systems to streamline land applications and building plan approvals, thereby reducing delays and frustrations for citizens. Collaboration with other agencies, she added, will be vital to this process. Currently, the first 110 Young Professional houses that are under construction at Phase One of Silica City comprise of four designs with prices ranging between $27 million and $35 million. But while 70 per cent of these houses are flat structures, the demand is high for elevated homes.

With seven contractors working, the houses are currently at various stages of completion, and according to Minister Croal, allocations have already begun with beneficiaries able to sign their Agreements of Sale soon. “This area here, where the houses are being constructed, will be totally transformed into what a modern area will look like,” the Minister noted.

Phase Two designs
In the meantime, work has already commenced on Phase Two of the Silica City project, which will target the Guyanese Diaspora including for investment opportunities. According to Croal, this phase will introduce a different type of housing to meet the needs of the target market.
“Currently, the project team is doing the design to prepare for the infrastructure work [to commence]. The design [and] the construction to take place there will be different… Those will target more of the condo-type of design,” the Minister told reporters today. In fact, he noted that interest is already buzzing from the diaspora.
“A lot of the persons from the diaspora have been expressing interest. They want to return, and of course, there is a particular type of area they’re looking for. And so, here’s an opportunity that we’ll be able to engage them,” he added. The Housing Minister noted that the diaspora applicants will have to undergo a similar process and meet the local criteria, that is, being of Guyanese origin and a first-time homeowner. Conceived in 2009 by then Housing Minister, Irfaan Ali, now President, Silica City will be Guyana’s first modern, sustainable city and is part of the PPP/C Government’s climate change mitigation initiatives under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS 2030). The Government has set aside some 3800 acres of land for the new city with approximately 15,000 houses to be conducted in various phases.

Hauraruni housing development
Meanwhile, with lands along the East Coast Demerara (ECD) and East Bank Demerara (EBD) saturated, the Government is moving housing development to the Soesdyke-Linden Highway. One such project currently underway is the Hauraruni housing development – a $1.5 billion investment that includes the construction of roads and drainage systems to ensure accessible and flood-resilient housing.
Land preparation and infrastructure works are currently underway at the project site, and is divided into four lots and awarded to four different contractors.
During a visit to the site on Sunday, Minister Croal indicated that the contractors have until the end of this month to complete their respective works. With the aim to build at least 400 young professional-type houses, the Ministry will soon be going out for Expressions of Interest (EOI) to get contractors.
“And we’re not looking locally alone,” the Minister pointed out, adding “…We’re going even further afield. We want to, first of all, maximise those contractors we have locally for the construction of the houses, and then bring in others who will be able to keep it at our prices…the prices set at Governmental level, through CHPA (Central Housing and Planning Authority.”
Even as the Government shifts to the Soesdyke-Linden Highway for housing projects, Croal explained that his Ministry is still exploring other areas to ensure that the Government is able to fulfil is commitment. “We’re currently going through in-house to review how we’ll be able to [fulfil the housing commitment]. The identification of land is an important aspect to achieve that objective… The move to the Soesdyke-Linden Highway is one such engagement. We’re also looking at other areas for future development for housing, because we’ve reached that point in Region Four where we’re saturated in terms of the housing schemes for on the East Coast and on the East Bank,” the Housing Minister stated.