The Ministry of Housing says over $10B has been invested in developing housing schemes along the East Bank Demerara and a further $4B will be expended as government partners with the NBS and private sector companies to give more citizens a chance to become home-owners.
Housing Minister Irfaan Ali said there is great demand for the ‘turn key’ homes, an initiative done in partnership with the New Building Society, several financial institutions and private sector companies.
It provides hundreds of citizens with access to a house and land starting from $5M, the ministry said in a press release. “There are 30 in phase 1 and 80 in phase 2, there is a demand for more than 400 so we still have 320 to complete,” he said.
Almost $300M has been invested in the preparation of the designated communities; including the installation of water mains and other infrastructural work, under the ‘Macro Development Plan’, the release said.
According to Ali, several benefits will accrue from investments in these new schemes; key among them is the promotion of greater connectivity among communities and massive investments in roads.
“The formation of these communities also promotes connectivity; the roads now link Peter’s Hall, Providence, [Mocha] and Herstelling,” he said, adding that “Persons travelling along the East Bank will no longer have to depend on one road to get into town. They now have at least 3-4 connecting roads.”
To date, $4.5B has been invested in infrastructure works and almost $6B in land acquisition. This year, Ali pledged that an additional $4B will be injected for development along the EBD.
In addition to this, partnerships with financial institutions have given more low income earners access to low cost mortgages to purchase or build their homes.
The distribution of 30,000 new house lots by 2015, a re-migrants housing scheme, the ‘turn key’ project and other special programmes for young professionals and single persons, all form part of the ministry’s five-year plan.
