Hundreds of Lindeners express interest in Govt’s housing units

…construction starts on more middle-income homes

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) visited Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) on Wednesday, where more than 200 Lindeners expressed an interest in owning their own middle-income house and a number of them were shortlisted.

CH&PA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sherwyn Greaves engaged with the shortlisted applicants during the visit to the mining town. The CEO noted that while more than 200 Lindeners have expressed interest in owning one of the units, 60 have so far been shortlisted.
Wednesday’s exercise was aimed at providing guidance to applicants on the steps they need to take, such as receiving pre-qualification from financial institutions and other key stages of the homeownership process moving forward.
Most of the applicants for the homes are young professionals, including health-care workers, law enforcement officers and other public and Private Sector workers. The homes themselves are 600 square feet, two-bedroom elevated units that will cost a total of $7.5 million.

This includes the cost of the land – $300,000. The CEO explained that successful applicants are required to pay the CH&PA an initial $660,000, which includes the cost of the land and five per cent of the cost of the home ($360,000).
“Construction of the homes has started and it is our intention to have persons identify their house lots, their houses and to ensure they can acquire these houses, as early as possible, and be able to monitor the homes throughout construction,” Greaves said, adding that in its bid to foster affordable home financing, the CH&PA has liaised with several banks to provide additional funding for applicants.
“We have engaged the New Building Society, the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry and Demerara Bank, who have agreed to give preferential interest rates for those persons who want loans. They have also reduced the legal fees by half and waived other fees and charges,” the CEO told the potential homeowners.
He further explained that while the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) and Demerara Bank do not currently offer services in the Region, the CH&PA is also in discussions with Republic Bank.
Construction of the first 20 homes started some weeks ago, following an announcement by President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali earlier in the year that a 1000-homes project would be launched in Linden.
The CEO revealed that some 40 homes were the first stage of meeting the President’s commitment. Also, he said that another 50 homes would be constructed before the end of the year. Following the outreach, Greaves visited the site where the homes were being constructed to inspect the works. In addition to the homes, the CH&PA is also undertaking several infrastructural projects in Amelia’s Ward, Wisroc, and Watooka, Region 10.
Since coming to office, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has made it clear that it was aiming to fulfil its manifesto promise of distributing 50,000 house lots over the next five years. The Housing Ministry has also said it would work with other State agencies to make more land available for housing development.
These agencies include the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL); the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to pursue land acquisition for housing developments.
This year, the housing sector received a total allocation of $8.9 billion in the budget. Of this sum, $6 billion will go towards infrastructural and utility works in new and existing areas. This will pave the way for the allocation of more than 10,000 house lots and 7000 land titles to citizens.
The Government has also gone countrywide with its “Dream Realised” house lot distribution campaign –an exercise that has so far distributed in excess of 4000 house lots and over 500 land transports.
In the Government’s first four months in office, 3500 house lots were distributed – half the amount of house lots distributed during the former Government’s five years in office.