Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, yesterday disclosed that 9,612 house lots were allocated by the government in 2023, including 8,578 residential lots, 181 residential-commercial lots, and 860 lots, through the ministry’s regularization programme.
He made this disclosure at a press briefing at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, in Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.
According to the breakdown of the number of allottees by region, for Region Four, 7,118 house lots were allocated, followed by 1,079 in Region Three, 125 in Region Five, and 192 in Region Six. According to the minister, this house-lot allocation equated to over 30,466 over the last three years since the People’s Pro-gressive Party/Civic took office in 2020.
Under the “Dream Rea-lized” initiative, 28,368 residential house lots were allocated according to Croal, followed by 659 commercial and industrial lots, along with 1,445 regularization lots.
Meanwhile, Minister in the Ministry, Susan Rodrigues, highlighted that over the last three years, there has been a consistent 40% increase in the allocation of house lots exclusively to women, who accounted for 90% of the total allocation.
When the allocations were broken down by by income (low, moderate, and middle-income earners), 43.3% of allottees are low-income earners, while 29.2% and 19.5% of allottees are moderate- and middle-income earners, respectively.
“That is in keeping with the objective of the housing programme… to ensure that affordable housing is provided to all Guyanese,” the minister told reporters.
Last year 15,119 youths, aged 35 and below, were significant beneficiaries of house lots, representing 53.3 percent of all allottees.
Moreover, Croal noted that the Ministry continues to develop additional lands to meet the needs of potential homeowners in other areas.
In Region One, 17 acres of land were identified for development in Mabaru-ma, while a survey is underway in an identified housing area at Oronoque, Port Kaituma.
He did acknowledge, however, that there were approximately 10,000 allottees awaiting access to their allocated lands.
“Of the 30,000 that we speak about, about 20,000 of those would have been able to access or see their land. Currently, for example, on the East Bank of Demerara, there are several blocks… Grove/Diamond area, by the end of this month… they will be able to access those lands,” he assured. Further, there is an ongoing commitment of 300 houses being constructed in regions One, Seven, Eight, and Nine, with 44 being completed thus far.
The minister however, lamented the backlog of house/land applications. He explained that the Cen-tral Housing and Planning Authority had encountered delays in land allocations and land developments due to the backlog of applications, that had to be processed.
Croal disclosed that from 2021 to 2023, the government has injected more than $102 billion into the Housing Sector to facilitate infrastructural development. And despite the challenges it faced when taking office in 2020, the Minister is adamant that his administration will continuously invest in the Housing Sector as it is on the brink of executing its manifesto promise of allocating 50,000 house lots by the year 2025.
Against this backdrop, he noted that the Housing Ministry will inject an additional $22 billion into the development of road networks, particularly those in regions Three and Four in order to procure equal and better living standards for citizens.
“In addition to our investment for new areas, and I just said over 40-plus new areas, to date, we have completed over 23 kilometres of highways, spending at least $25 billion.
“When you take into consideration our two new awarded areas, which would include the ongoing Schoonard to Crane four-lane, which we expect to be completed sometime by this first quarter and you take into consideration, the new extension that has been awarded for Diamond to Buzz Bee Dam-Craig, those two combinations, are a $22 billion investment that says overall on completed highways and current highways under construction, we have an investment of over $47.4 billion,” Croal told reporters.
“First of all, we need to recognize the level of investment that is happening in this sector. And that is required that shows Government’s commitment because you’re fulfilling all our requirements”, he said.
The table below shows the number of squatting areas/lots inherited, regularised, and yet to be regularised during the period 2020-2023.
Update on Silica City
Croal told reporters that the Government has recently partnered with the University of Miami to develop a comprehensive master plan for Silica City. He said, “This master plan will be based on the administration vision and development concept for Silica City.”
“It will elaborate on the future infrastructure requirements and the associated costs. A steering committee was established to provide oversight for the work to be completed”, he added.
The Guyana Lands and Survey Commission has completed the survey for 3,115.19 acres of land at Silica City to facilitate the transfer of land to CH& PA for further conveyancing, according to Croal.
