No discrimination in land allocation process – Croal

Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal dismissed the notion that the Government is discriminating against a certain group of Guyanese in housing programmes being rolled out countrywide.
“We don’t practice discrimination, we take into consideration one variable and that is you have to be a pending applicant,” Croal said while speaking at a recent allocation exercise at Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara, Region Three.
“If the demographics look a particular way here [in Region Three], it is what it is Region three. When we go to Linden and the demographics look a certain way, it is what it is in Linden. If we go to lowlands on the east coast and the demographics look a particular way it is what it is.
“Similarly, when you pull a lot from the envelope, we don’t know what your neighbour will look like.”
When the Government took office in August 2020, it met a backlog of 70,000 applications, with only 7000 house lots distributed during the coalition’s five-year tenure.
Croal said the PPP/C Administration has since implemented an aggressive national housing programme that has seen over 17,000 house lots distributed to Guyanese in just over two years.
He also mentioned the turn-key programme which allows persons in the low and moderate-income bracket, and young professionals, affordable housing options. Some 1200 units are currently being constructed in Regions Three, Four, Six and 10.
In keeping with its manifesto, the PPP/C Government is committed to delivering 50,000 house lots ? 10,000 annually to Guyanese within its first term in office.