Close to 600 acres of prime housing lands along the East Bank Demerara stretching from Providence to Golden Grove were sold to private developers within the last four years and an investigation has since been launched to determine whether these were properly acquired, sources within the Housing Ministry say.
BK International which appears to have some link to Sunset Lakes Inc., acquired 100 acres in 2011 which is by far the most sold to a single developer. Those lands were eventually sold to Chinese firm Baishanlin and checks are being conducted to ascertain whether this sale was legitimate.
As recent as the latter half of 2014, Sunset Lakes Inc. was still listed as the owners of the 100 acres where it was said that approximately 386 homes were being built in a gated community, dubbed the “New Life Community.” At that point questions were being asked as to how the company managed to acquire such a large amount of prime lands.
It was during that year’s GuyExpo that the name Sunset Lakes Inc. which was part of the Chinese booth rose to fame after it displayed a replica of what the community would look like once finished. There were accusations that it had links with Baishanlin but the company had refused to furnish this newspaper with information on the possible links as well as its housing project.
Sources told Stabroek News yesterday that based on the information at the Ministry of Housing, it would now appear that Sunset Lakes Inc. sold the lands to Baishanlin.
Amidst accusations of corruption under the PPP/C administration which lost office following the May 11th regional and general election, Keith Scott, the new minister responsible for Housing recently announced that a unit has been set up to investigate land sale practices among other things.
Stabroek News has been reliably informed that a total of 18 private developers have been granted lands along the East Bank.
According to a list seen by this newspaper, besides BK International Inc. – Sunset Lakes Inc., 50 acres were sold to Buddy’s Housing Development; 14 to Dax Contracting Service Incorporated, 25 to Nabi Construction Incorporated; 50 to Cumberland Developers Inc., 25 to Vikab Engineering Consultants Ltd and 28.8 to Luxury Realty Inc. All of these lands are located at Providence and were bought in 2011 with the exception of Luxury Realty Inc. which bought its lands in 2013.
According to what this newspaper was shown, in 2013, 25 acres in the Peter’s Hall area were sold to Kishan Bacchus Construction while 50 acres in 2011 and an additional 25 acres in 2014 of lands in the same area were sold to Caricom General Insurance Company Inc. Navigant Builders Inc and Winsdor Gardens Inc. were also sold parcels of lands in the Peter’s Hall area. In 2012 and 2014, 25 and 15 acres respectively were acquired by Navigant Builders Inc. while Windsor Forest Inc. acquired 40 acres.
Meanwhile, Queensway was sold 35 acres of land at Block 22 A, Block Y Golden Grove. This newspaper was unable to ascertain in which year the purchase was made.
A total of six developers purchased land in the Little Diamond/Great Diamond area. Queensville Housing acquired 12.5 acres; A&R Jiwanram Printery Inc, 7.64 acres; RayDan Housing Enterprise, 16.9 acres; Hi Tech Construction Inc., 20 acres and Romel Jagroop General Construction Services, 12.5 acres. All of these purchases were made during the year 2014.
Last on the list was Mohamed’s Enterprise which purchased 14.94 acres of land in the same area but earlier this year.
During the just concluded elections campaign season, APNU+AFC members had expressed concerns at the amount of land that was being given to private investors. Some had said that if the coalition was elected into power these allocations would be scrutinized with a fine tooth comb to check for any illegalities.
