Amid continuous complaints from citizens regarding substandard work being produced by the contractors on the government’s home construction assistance programme, Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal confirmed that one contractor so far has been terminated.
He made this disclosure at his ministry’s press conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on January 3, admitting that his ministry was having difficulties with contractors working on the home construction assistance programme.
As a result of this, Croal said, the Ministry of Housing had to impose disciplinary measures to abate this kind of behaviour and one of the contractors retained to build homes for young professionals at Prospect, East Bank Demerara, has since been terminated.
“We’ve had to send legal documents to that contractor, and I’m told that he also owes other persons. In [this] contractor’s case, there are about five beneficiaries for whom we are seeking to recover their money. Meaning, we have terminated the contractor, and secondly, we’re levying, to be able to recover the necessary money [paid by the beneficiaries]”, he said.
The minister also referred to another case involving a contractor building homes for young professionals at La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara.
“That person would have received their first tranche from the bank, but they didn’t do the level of work that was required. So, that is being addressed,” Croal stated.
Meanwhile, in response to the complaints about protracted and inferior work, as well as overcharging, Croal said the Housing Ministry has since improved its monitoring capacity.
“There is a clerk of works that we have taken onboard, increased clerks of works to help with monitoring, because you would realise that, with the number of projects that we’re doing…. in the Projects Department, we’ve had to increase the staffing… for monitoring which is required on the spot. So, they are now required to have weekly visits to the particular assigned areas they have, so we can rectify some of these issues,” Croal said.
While the ministry claims that it is tackling complaints against contractors, the minister lamented that some contractors are facing challenges as they have deemed the cost of building these homes low.“The contractors have said that the cost for those houses at the respective levels is too minimal… That’s a reality and many of them also expressed challenges in terms of labour, which the whole country has in terms of labour shortage,” Croal reported.
Meanwhile, Minister within the Housing Ministry Susan Rodrigues told reporters at the press briefing that many people were opting for pre-built homes, but the availability of contractors was an issue they were grappling with.
“We understood very early that, if we want to promote occupancy in areas, we should start by building homes. And that also allows us to utilise economies of scale to make homeownership more affordable, especially for our low-income earners,” Rodrigues said.
“So, that was the logic behind trying to construct as many houses as possible; and now we have a long list of people who are waiting for houses.
“So, we wish we can build more houses, but we’re also in a tight spot in terms of contractors who are available and willing to participate in our housing programme.”
Stabroek News had reported in May 2022, that the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) opened applications for the Home Construction Assistance Programme at its Head Office in Brickdam, Georgetown.
The programme is the brainchild of President Irfaan Ali and seeks to accelerate his government’s housing drive, while also addressing challenges faced by Guyanese families who have acquired land but are unable to build their homes.
Under the programme, applicants can select from three pre-designed housing models ($7 million, $9 million and $12 million) and pre-qualify for loans with financial institutions. Those on board include Republic Bank Limited – Guyana, Citizens Bank, and the New Building Society. The homes will be built by contractors and monitored by CHPA engineers for quality control. The programme operates in regions Four, Six, and Ten.
