After homeowners registered complaints about structural imperfections at their Perseverance, East Bank Demerara homes, Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Annette Ferguson, on Tuesday assured them that corrective works will begin on the houses within a week’s time.
A Department of Public Information (DPI) release reported Ferguson as relaying that the homes, which were constructed by private investors who worked in collaboration with government on the Housing Solutions 2017 and Beyond project, have defects such as leaking roofs and toilet facilities.
“I visited more than 10 houses. However, there are cases where some homeowners were not at home but appear on the complaint list. I have examined, listened and documented the beneficiary’s concerns. There are some issues with flooring, leaking roofs and toilet facilities,” the minister said.
She stated that some of the residents have already commenced paying their mortgages, while some are reluctant to occupy the homes until the issues have been dealt with.
Ferguson assured the homeowners that their concerns will be addressed shortly, noting that they are still in the defects liability period, and so the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) will have the issues addressed, with work set to commence within a week’s time.
The project that led to the development of the Perseverance Housing Scheme sought to resolve the CH&PA’s enormous backlog of applications going as far back as 1994, the release said. It added that the scheme was chosen because its layout allows for the accommodation of 570 house lots, which reportedly helped reduce 25,000 housing applications in 2017.
