The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) of Guyana is currently allocating some 3,000 house lots on an annual basis, according to Chief Executive Officer Lelon Saul, who says the agency is working to increase that number to 5,000, while also reducing a backlog of approximately 50,000 applications.
While Saul says these undertakings are moving apace, Minister within the Ministry of Communities Annette Ferguson says progress has been impeded by the “mess inherited” from the former People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government.
As a result, while there has been as much as 550 recent allocations of house lots, and billions in infrastructural developments in housing schemes, Ferguson says the Authority, among other things, incurred huge costs correcting titles given to land allocation beneficiaries, as the parcel numbers on some of the documents did not correspond with the land allocated.
These realities were shared with the media yesterday when Ferguson and senior CH&PA officials hosted the Authority’s end-of-year press conference.
Clearing backlog
In an effort to reduce the backlog in a manner convenient to citizens, Saul said we “visited the regions to ensure that allocations are given to persons who would have applied from 2010 and a little upwards.”
Due to these efforts, the minister said, “we have already addressed applications after 2010, those being current applications.”
Asked for figures on annual allocations, Saul said “somewhere around 3,000. Ideally we should be allocating in excess of 5,000 per year over the next seven years.”
He guaranteed that despite the large number, there are other lots available, which must first be developed before being made available.
Saul also took the opportunity to share costs realities concerning the development of a lot. “I want you to understand it costs approximately $3 million to develop a house lot, and mind you, for the low income lot, it is being sold at $92,000. It, therefore, means that we are subsiding the cost of a house lot,” he said.
Modified policy
Ferguson also explained that CH&PA has employed a modified policy to allow persons who have received land allocations to do so without incurring debilitating financial strain.
She noted that previously public servants, including minimum wage earners, were given a few hours’ notice to pay 50 per cent of the cost of the land they were allocated, failing which they would lose the allocation.
The minister further highlighted that the lands offered by government ranges in cost from $93,000 to $3 million, so that applicants would have had to find substantial amounts of money in a very short window. Down payments thus ranged from $46,500 to $1.5 million.
Ferguson said that the old policy, which existed pre-2015, caused many persons to struggle to pay for lands, so that they remained in debt to the Authority for long periods of time. She said that the 50/50 Jubilee Housing Promotion in 2016 allowed several persons to clear their arrears with the Authority, while also raking in “much needed revenue” for the Authority.
Improving infrastructure
Ferguson, however, pointed out that some of the funds collected during the promotion were used to improve infrastructure in several housing schemes because some 28,000, or half of the house lots allocated under the former Jagdeo administrations, were in areas with little to no infrastructure,
Ferguson said that some $6 billion from that revenue was used to upgrade 31 partially developed housing schemes in which lands were allocated pre-2015. The minister said that $2.9 billion was spent to construct and upgrade roads and $2.7 billion to facilitate access to electricity.
A further $16 billion is needed to complete the infrastructural works in those areas, the minister said.
Ferguson lamented that pre-2015, persons paid large sums of money for “land they could not see,” before adding that there are persons to still visit CH&PA today on a daily basis regarding land they paid for in full. These lands are located in areas including Stewartville, Cummings Lodge, and sections of Covent Garden, she shared.
As per a new initiative, the minister said, where these persons have indicated that they have either secured loans to build, or are otherwise ready to commence building their homes, they have been re-allocated lands in different locations.
In the interim, the minister said, the Authority is working to make lands allocated accessible.
Continued policy
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has criticised government for allocating house lots in areas lacking infrastructure. Ferguson, however, explained that the practice was done under Jagdeo’s administration and was merely continued post-2015. CH&PA, she said, is seeking to build upon this approach to make it more convenient to applicants.
Explaining the system used, Ferguson said it is normal for allocations to be done using a design layout plan: a process in which planners and architects complete drawings of the schemes in a two-dimensional plan, and lots are allocated based on this plan. At this stage, she explained, no infrastructure is in place.
Now, she shared, CH&PA consults with applicants to ascertain whether they are willing to pay for their land, and collect same when infrastructure is put in place. The consultations are done by letter, which the applicants must sign if they agree to the proposed terms.
Ferguson says that persons who were recently allocated lands in regions 2, 5 and 6 were made aware, and they agreed, that they will have access to their lands in about 9 months.
Ferguson shared that a similar approach was taken in the case of lots allocated in Peter’s Hall, East Bank of Demerara, and claims that the recipients were satisfied with the process used.
Ferguson said that CH&PA has to determine how to roll out allocations for this region, and suggested that this will be done soon. “We have not neglected you. We have not forgotten you. Perhaps it may come as a Christmas gift…but we are asking you to just—hold steadily with us,” she urged.
