Manifesto promise to reduce land rent, issue house lots being delivered – PM Phillips

…as dozens of leases handed over
Prime Minister, Brigadier Retired Mark Phillips says that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government is fulfilling its manifesto promise of not only delivering 50,000 house lots but also reducing the rent of leased lands across the country.

He made this remark while handing over dozens of leases through the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) in conjunction with the Office of the President on Wednesday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
The Prime Minister told the recipients that the distribution exercise was especially important to the Dr Irfaan Ali-led Government since it was a promise delivered, from its manifesto. He reminded too that the Government also promised to reverse land rent fees – a promise which was delivered.
“The manifesto’s promise to reduce land rent has been done, rents were doubled and, in some cases, tripled [by the previous A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change coalition]. For example, land on the [Linden-Soesdyke] Highway was moved from $100 per acre to $400 per acre, and this has now returned to $100 today… This is just delivering on the promise that we made in our manifesto when we were campaigning that many of these payments that we considered to be unconscionable will be removed,” he stated.

PM Phillips also disclosed that there were many irregularities found in the land distribution process and so a lot of corrective work had to be done by the Commission. These include Government reviewing many of the transactions that were done during the transitioning of governments in 2020 and reissuing those approvals within the laws of Guyana.
“The current Government has been issuing regular approval for applications in keeping with the law. The latest batch has not seen a single refusal and leaseholders can remain confident that their leases are legitimate… Nobody can question it,” he declared.
Another manifesto promise of the PPP/C was the provision of 50,000 house lots across the country, and according to the Prime Minister, fulfilling this promise has been made possible through the GLSC’s efforts to make lands available to the Government.
In fact, Phillips disclosed that the Commission has delivered over 500 residential lots to the State particularly in the hinterland regions to advance the Government’s housing plans in those communities.
“So, we have this Commission working overtime to ensure that we achieve our promise to you the people of Guyana,” he stated.

Women empowerment
The Prime Minister also praised the Lands and Surveys Commission for its efforts to provide leases to a number of females, noting that this provides opportunities for empowerment.
“I’m always overjoyed when I see a lot of women collecting leases because we’re empowering women, and that’s another promise we made to the people of Guyana. We want to see more women involved in owning properties, in establishing businesses, and in owning their own homes,” PM Phillips posited.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GLSC, Enrique Monize, disclosed that the agency had to deal with a backlog that existed prior to 2015.
According to the CEO, the demand for land across the country has risen incredibly in recent years.
“In 2021, we had over 5000 requests for land and currently, we have over 5000 requests for lands in Region Four alone that are pending. There are just requests; they have not been applied as yet. We’re in the process of allocating and we’re working from a list of around 5000. This is more than double the historic records the Commission has seen,” he noted.
Monize further pointed out that providing lands that are accessible is becoming increasingly difficult. However, he explained that the challenge is not necessarily the availability of land but rather accessibility.
“There are a lot of lands in Guyana, but [there is] the issue of accessibility… Most persons who come to the Lands and Surveys Commission will ask you if they want a piece of land close to the road and next to a creek. That has been the basic thing… We have many creeks, but we have a few roads so in order to meet that criterion, it has to be a very selective process,” the GLSC Head noted.