Dear Editor,
It is unfortunate that the opening ceremony of Building Expo 2023 is now better known for the “Famous Grab”. Attending the event as a member of the board of Central Housing and Planning Authority and Mayor of Linden, what stood out for me during the President’s presentation was his government’s development of the housing sector in Linden and Region 10. The President noted that, over the next three years, his government intends to embark on an “aggressive plan to dent the backlog of (57,000 applications in the system)”, by opening new lands and constructing more homes. He said “the plan in the next three years is to develop 14,000 new house lots in Region Three; 1,000 new homes and 1,000 new lots in Region 10; 1,000 new lots in Region Seven; 4,000 new lots in Region Six; 1,000 lots in Region Five; 20,000 in Region Four; 250 in Region One; and 1,000 each in Regions Two and Nine.”
The Chronicle, of April 22, 2023, stated that “the government had started developing an area at Millie’s Hideout (Linden) to construct houses as part of a commitment by President Ali to build 1,000 homes to meet the housing needs in the mining town.” However, “the CEO explained that the project was halted after it was discovered that a significant bauxite reserve was present in the area.” Government is advised that it should engage in meaningful consultations with all stakeholders in the Region, in order to avoid such blunders again (as this project was in an advanced stage). If this approach was taken at the beginning, the halting of this project after it was discovered that “a significant bauxite reserve was present in the area”, would not have occurred, saving taxpayers millions of dollars, as the Block 37 Millie’s Hideout area is known to hold some of the richest bauxite deposits.
The President further noted that in order to meet the additional 20,000 housing needs, many challenges would be encountered when opening up new lands. One such challenge was the amount of resources it would take to tame the “wet-lands” behind Regions 3 and 4. The time is now to make Linden Guyana’s second City, by expanding its boundaries to Rockstone, Ituni and Moblissa, this will open up many ideal lands behind those “wet-lands” especially in Regions 3 and 4. It should be noted that some lands within this area are already being developed by the Government, such as “Silica City” and development within the “Sand Hills” area. The time is now for both Central and Local Governments to see where their goals are mutually aligned so that Linden can move to a City status. The “City” of Linden would be ideal in driving the housing sector in Guyana, by addressing the additional 20,000 applications on file.
Sincerely,
Sharma Solomon
Mayor Of Linden