The Ministry of Housing and Water received almost 15,000 new applications for house lots last year, according to Minister Susan Rodrigues.
During the 2023 Budget debate in Parliament yesterday, Rodrigues disclosed that the Central Housing and Planning Authority received approximately 14,974 new applications for house lots of which 10,763 were from persons between the ages of 21 to 39.
“This shows tremendous confidence in our housing programme. Our young people are saying to us: we believe that the government has a good plan; we have seen evidence of the government delivering on this plan and we are submitting our application in the full confidence of knowing that we will receive our house,” Rodrigues said.
The minister contended that the ministry she is responsible for is one that has had many achievements since the PPP/C government came to power in 2020. She also said that accusations that the ministry has been favouring Indo-Guyanese when handing out house lots are false.
“We have embarked on an unprecedented housing programme on a scale and magnitude never seen in this country before, and no community is left out of this development,” she emphasized.
The minister said that there are infrastructural works ongoing at 54 new housing schemes all across the country. “People will have access to housing. We are ensuring that we increase our housing construction drive so that people can achieve home ownership even faster because [that] will be more affordable,” she said. So far, the ministry has distributed 20,500 house lots and has regularized 1,355 in squatting areas, said Rodrigues, while noting that the ministry also completed the Mandela Avenue four-lane highway – which is also in the process of being expanded – and has begun the construction of the Schoonord to Crane Highway in Region Three.
According to the minister, 8516 of the house lots distributed went to women – which is 43% of the total number of lots distributed.
“This is our record, among many other achievements with a budgetary allocation of $54.5 billion for housing and $17.7 billion for water. We can continue the work we started in 2020 to pursue all of our targets and objectives in our carefully planned five-year programme,” she said.
She added, “We were accused by members of the Opposition that we are not doing enough for women….this is by no accident. This is because of conscious work that we are doing; conscious policymaking to ensure that we bridge the gender gap and ensure that there is equality.”
Rodrigues went on to disclose that 73.8% of the total house lots distributed went to low and moderate income families as per the government’s commitment to protect vulnerable people.
This year, Rodrigues predicted that there will be a 9.8% increase in real estate mortgage loans compared to 5.5% percent in 2022 and 3.7% in 2021.
By 2025, she added, it is expected that the government’s five-year plan will see 92% of the coast getting access to treated water. Meanwhile, in the hinterland, she said, there has been tremendous success in the housing programme which has seen an improvement from 46% in 2020 to 75% by the end of 2022.
“By the end of 2023, after we have executed [this year’s] budget, we will be at 85% access across our hinterland communities,” she said.
Regarding the water sector, she said, the PPP/C government has spent in in excess of $15.4 billion to support the expansion of water distribution systems, drilling of 33 new wells, and providing improved level and quality of service.
She added that for the first time 35,000 persons in over 60 communities nationwide have had first-time access to potable water.
