Prospect housing units on target for January 2022 completion

Construction of the low-income and young professional housing units at Prospect, East Bank Demerara (EBD), is currently progressing as planned, with expectation that the project will be completed for the January 2022 deadline.
Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal visited the site on Thursday, where the first 50 low-income two-bedroom housing units, and 200 three-bedroom young professional homes are currently under construction.
With eleven contractors involved in the project, the Minister said he was pleased with the level of progress made thus far.
“Some of them have committed that they will push to have them done quicker. On average, some have 20 houses, some have 10 but they’ve commenced and I’m happy about that… For young professionals who are working and don’t have the time to do the running around with buying materials, having the hassle with contractors, they can go through our system and qualify for one of these houses,” Croal noted.
The low-income units carry a total cost of $5.5 million inclusive of the land – $300,000. Meanwhile, the young professional homes are valued at $13.9 million (single flat) and $19.9 million (two-storey), inclusive of the $1 million land.
Speaking on the application process to secure a unit, the Minister outlined, “When you apply, there are a number of information that is there. The information we ask you helps us sometime in our decision making. We go into our system sometimes to examine for persons who have indicated an interest in the house because you also have that option to indicate your preference. Once that is done, we pull you from the system and examine if you prequalify based on your ability, income etc. We send that to the bank; the bank does its due diligence and the person is informed.”

The national housing development plan for 2021 includes the construction of 1000 homes for low-income earners in areas such as Cummings Lodge, Prospect, Providence, Little Diamond, Great Diamond, Onderneeming, Wales, Ordinance, Fortlands, Hampshire, Williamsburg and Amelia’s Ward. Another 100 is set aside for the hinterland communities.
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government is mobilising to distribute a total of 10,000 house lots to Guyanese in 2021, in keeping with their manifesto promise to deliver 50,000 lots within their first term in office.
Back in November 2020, President Ali had announced that land clearing works started for new housing schemes at Mon Repos and Cummings Lodge. He had said that the Government’s housing programme will create tens of thousands of jobs in the construction and home improvement sectors. Moreover, the construction sector will be key to driving growth in Guyana’s non-oil sectors.
In April, the Government had announced that it is in the process of constructing 190 elevated two-bedroom houses in the Cummings Lodge community for the working class – a project that was slated for completion within five months.
“You will find in those allocations that we have done this year for new areas; we have catered for the construction of a few houses in those areas. This is inherent as part of our policy in how we move forward with our housing programme,” said Minister Croal.
The housing project for young professionals will soon take shape on the East Coast of Demerara, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).