Land policy breaches will result in repossession – President Ali to private developers

President Dr Irfaan Ali has made it clear that any breaches to Guyana’s overhauling land policy by private developers will result in the repossession of land.
The Head of State’s statement came on the heels of several allegations of corruption and collusion within the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) of the Ministry of Housing and Water.
Ali clarified that over the past four years Government has allocated more than 40,000 plots of land through the Ministry to low, moderate and middle-income families, with less than 10 per cent of the total lands allocated to private developers for commercial purposes.

President Dr Irfaan Ali

“It’s an important fact that we must understand. The resources generated from the sale of land to private developers for development purposes, because I will go through with you the conditions through which those sales are made for development purposes, for investment purposes, for transformation of the housing stock. The resources from that are used to cross-subsidise investment for low-income, middle-income and low-middle-income properties. The concept of cross-subsidisation in a housing sector is a key one,” the President said.
In outlining the terms of agreements with private developers, President Ali also made it clear that strict conditions are attached to the sale of land for development. Among these are requirements for the installation of drainage systems, roads, and street lighting within 18 months, and the completion of at least 70 per cent of residential construction within three years.
Further, the sale agreements stipulated that developers must make a 30 per cent down payment upon signing the agreement and the remaining balance within 18 months. Importantly, title to the property would only be transferred to the developer once all conditions, including full payment and the substantial completion of infrastructure, had been met.
The Guyanese leader explained that if these conditions were breached, the Government reserved the right to terminate the agreement and retain the 30 per cent deposit.
“Everyone is subject to the same condition…There are stringent conditions. For a matter of fact, all the lands that we’ve allocated, regardless of who get it, once they’ve breached this agreement, CHPA has all already known that they have to move towards repossession,” the Guyanese Leader emphasised.
Moreover, President Ali shed light on what transpired during the previous administration, noting that between 2015 and 2020, there were multiple breaches of land policies under the former A Partnership for National Unity – Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Government, including land transactions that bypassed public processes, lacked board representation, and failed to meet payment and development obligations.
In one instance, some developers paid less than 10 per cent of the purchase price for prime land, and in others, the developers were given 90 months to complete the development, with no significant payment made upfront.
Further, the Head of State pointed out that many of the land deals entered into by the previous administration were conducted without public tenders or expressions of interest, leading to concerns over transparency.
“There was no public tender or expression of interest. The 23 transactions were entered into after the APNU-AFC Government was defeated by a vote of no confidence on the 21st of December 2018 in the National Assembly. More importantly, they were finalised mere days and hours before the general elections of 2nd of March 2020, and they were vested after the general election date as well”.
“It gets worse. Most of these transactions, they collected less than 10 per cent of the total purchase price…this is the highest land, the highest value land in the country. In our agreement, we collected 30 per cent as a down payment with a series of conditions that must be satisfied,” Ali added.
Turning to the issue of transparency, the President urged the public to compare the agreements signed by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government with those of the previous administration.
“Ownership of the property will be transferred in the name of the purchaser on publication of the sale in the official gazette. Nothing in secrecy. All will be transferred on publication of the sale in the official gazette, payment of the entire purchase price, and full satisfaction of the terms and conditions stated in the agreement.”