The Ministry of Housing on Tuesday processed 500 more house lots for the Recht-Door-Zee Housing Scheme, including for families from several squatting areas and recent fire victims.
The allocations were made at a ‘One Stop Shop’ exercise held at the Hugh Anderson Sports Complex at Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release, of the 740 lots being developed in the Recht-Door-Zee Phase 2 Housing Scheme, 200 have been identified for the Core Home pilot project being implemented under the Government of Guyana/IDB Second Low Income Settlement (LIS) Programme for nurses, policemen and teachers.
House lot applications were also expedited for 72 families who had been squatting on the West and East Ruimveldt Front Road, Plastic City, Vreed-en-Hoop, Turkeyen/Sophia and Herstelling Sea Dam in order to remove them from government reserves. Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali said, “It’s part of the ministry’s and the government’s process of uplifting the Guyanese public and more critically to ensure that each person is empowered, so as to contribute to the continuous development of the country.” He noted that by investing in a home, each allottee was contributing to the economic growth and development of the country as “building a house has tremendous trickle down economic benefit for the wider society.”
Lots were also given to the victims of fires at Lombard and Broad Streets and High and Barrack Streets at Tuesday’s exercise. Ali had pledged to expedite the application process for the fire victims when he visited them after the fires and noted the losses that they had suffered.
According to GINA, government is investing about $340M in the development of the Recht-Door-Zee Scheme and at the close of Tuesday’s exercise it would only have collected $74M.
The ministry has warned allottees that it will impose a number of penalties if they breach their agreement of sale. It noted that there are rules governing the construction and maintenance of the lots including the need to remove construction materials from the roadways in the scheme within 24 hours. “Failure to remove these materials will result in a fine of $20,000 per day,” the minister said. In addition, persons who intentionally submit false information to secure more than one house lot will have their lots repossessed without the return of their money.
