Ten households occupying a government reserve at Bath, Region Five will soon be relocated to developed housing schemes through the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) and this will pave the way for a new water treatment plant.
A release yesterday from the CHPA said that the plant will benefit approximately 17,000 residents in the region from Number Seven Village to Kingelly.
On Friday afternoon, the Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues met the informal settlers on the relocation process, as part of a follow-up to a meeting last year. She was accompanied by Member of Parliament, Faizal Jaffarally; Region Five Chairman, Vickchand Ramphal and officials from the CHPA and the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI). The release said that the families were assured by the Minister that a humanitarian approach will be employed throughout the relocation and resettlement programme and that help will be provided for all persons.
“We will ensure that you get your house lots [and] we will ensure that we help you to settle somewhere you can be comfortable,” said the Minister, as she urged residents to work with the Ministry.
An inventory of the area was conducted in 2022. During Friday’s exercise, a number of persons were able to verify documents and those who were unable to register for house lots were given the opportunity to initiate the process.
The Minister said that as part of the government’s macro plan to push access to treated water on the coastland from 52% to 90% by 2025, thirteen 13 new water treatment plants will be constructed. Contracts were awarded in 2022 for the building of seven 7 plants in Regions Two, Three and Four. This year, construction of another six is expected to start, including the one at Bath. Funding has already been approved by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Ministry is working to prepare the sites and start the tendering process in the coming weeks.
The Minister also met one-on-one with several other residents from the community on a number of housing and water issues.
