The Ministry of Housing and Water recently distributed over 200 house lots in Region Five when it hosted its ‘One Stop Shop” at the Blairmont Community Centre ground.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release residential lots were allocated in Block D 1 Bath and 20 commercial lots at Hope, Experiment, Waterloo and Block 1 Bath. Plans are also in train to invest $6B in the development of new and existing housing schemes and to put $2B in a revolving fund to assist persons who have been given a house lot but lack financing.
Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali said access to finance, especially low income financing and concessionary financing has always been challenging in developing countries and this commitment is in response to those needs. “Let’s us say that out of the 200 house lots we allocated, 150 persons commence building this year and we apply the minimum of five persons per house that is 750 new jobs that will be created here in Region Five,” Ali posited. “This is the string (of) benefits that the housing programme and department bring with it. If each land owner decides to spend a minimum of $2.5M for the construction of a low income house and you have 100 persons constructing that is an immediate stimulus of $250M in the local economy of Region Five,” he added.
The minister also said it is important that the private sector and banks come on board with the development agenda. He appealed to the commercial banks to re-examine some of their stringent positions to determine a flexible framework that is responsive to the needs of the people.
According to GINA, the ministry conducted interviews, allocated house lots and distributed land titles and transports at the ‘One Stop Shop’ exercise. Officials from the Guyana Water Incorporated were also on hand to interact with customers on billing queries and leakage reports while officials from the New Building Society facilitated loan agreements.
