-wells for Aurora, Lima Sands, Onderneeming
The Ministry of Housing and Water distributed 5,000 house lots in Region Two during its first ‘One Stop Shop’ outreach programme for the year while a ministerial team also informed residents of plans to drill three multi-million-dollar wells in the area.
The programme which was hosted on Friday saw thousands of residents converging at the Anna Regina Town Council Building to secure a chance of owning their own home. According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali and a team including representatives from the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry, Republic Bank and New Building Society (NBS) conducted the exercise. The minister also addressed housing and water issues including allocation, identification and payment for house lots, processing and distributing of titles and transports and customer complaints, bill queries and leakage reports.
Ali, in his address at the opening of the programme, said despite the constraints of resources government continues to deliver goods and services to the region. He said the exercise was part of the ministry’s efforts to stimulate the housing sector and to ensure that persons can access financing needed for construction. In keeping with this, he said government has moved to increase the loan ceiling and has made special provision for low income earners; creating an environment for reducing interest rates and as such special interest rates are now offered for mortgage agreements between the commercial banks and the government.
“We have seen very aggressive works by the banks in promoting the service and I urge you to make use of this opportunity and incentives that are given to you so as to have easier and more affordable access to financing,” Ali told residents. Prior to the agreement, NBS was the only bank that offered such arrangement. Ali said across the Caribbean there is a ‘bust’ in housing development, however; he noted that Guyana has been fortunate as a result of stringent measures embarked upon by the president.
The minister then encouraged residents to take full advantage of the available opportunities to build their dream homes. He also said that within six weeks, as part of the integrated service added to the ministry’s head office, representatives from three commercial banks will be available daily.
Meanwhile, CEO at the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) Myrna Pitt said the exercise in Region Two is part of the ministry’s continuous efforts to “improve the quality of our performance as it relates to the services that we provide. We believe in the user base definition of quality and embrace the quality principle of being customer focused as we seek in this tangible way to be of service to you.” Pitt noted that the CHPA is committed to providing a responsive service that will meet the needs of citizens in this regard.
Additionally, Regional Chairman Ally Baksh in outlining developments in the Region said it now boasts 10 new housing schemes. He said too $450M has been used to construct a water treatment plant which has benefited over 20,000 residents, while $24M has been spent to upgrade service connections and install water meters in the Queenstown and Walton Hall areas.
Baksh noted that a new well was also drilled at Somerset and Berks at a cost of $20M. “The amount we have spent last year alone is over $502m benefiting each community. Additionally we have spent through the Ministry in collaboration with the region $230M for the installation of a transmission main from Queenstown to Walton Hall. This is to ensure that the water flows better,” he said.
For this year, the Regional Chairman also said 4,000 Aurora residents will benefit from a new well which will be drilled at a cost of $70M. Plans are also in train to build wells at Lima Sands costing $46M and Onderneeming at a cost of $31M.
