Some 800 families were yesterday offered residential house lots in Lusignan and Two Friends, East Coast Demerara through another of the government’s ‘Dream Realized’ allocation exercises.
The housing drive was hosted by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) at the Arthur Chung Conference, Liliendaal and hundreds lined up early yesterday some of them from before dawn.
The exercise which is part of an iniative to provide 50,000 house lots to citizens by 2025 was led by the Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, Minister within Ministry, Susan Rodrigues and Chief Executive Officer of the CHPA, Sherwyn Greaves.
House lots were provided through a lottery system which was demonstrated by Croal and Greaves.
In an interview with Stabroek News, Pradesh Thakram who said he was there since 3 am yesterday expressed great satisfaction with finally being able to own his own land and build his home.
“I feel great because I have been renting for 35 years now and now I have my own land. I can’t wait to go on it to stop paying rent”, he stated.
A mother of three, who requested to remain anonymous, also shared her joy at finally being able to provide a better life for her children.
She told this newspaper that she has been living in a deplorable state for the past 15 years and just at a point where she was losing hope, this iniative instilled back in her some motivation to keep pushing for her kids.
“I apply for a piece of land since 2012 when my husband was alive. We used to live at the bottom of his mother house and ever since he die, the living situation went from bad to worse. I did feel like giving up, but after I hear about this, I feel like God still looking out for me”, the mother said.
Meanwhile, 61-year-old pensioner Kay Rodrigues was elated that she was finally able to get her own piece of land after 17 years of waiting. The woman and her husband are facing eviction from the land they are currently leasing.
While addressing the new land owners, Croal pointed out that apart from land allocation, billions of dollars are being spent on ongoing infrastructure within new and existing housing schemes.
