The Region Nine ‘One Stop Shop’ held last weekend at the Arapaima Primary School in the Rupununi resulted in close to 300 transactions being done by housing ministry officials, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
And over 125 house lots were allocated; 20 land titles distributed and close to 100 applications were processed while agreements of sales were completed.
According to GINA, approximately $445M will be spent during this year to upgrade the housing and water sector in Region Nine.
Over 220 house lots will be allocated in residential and commercial areas where $220M will be spent to construct roads, drains, other structures and pure water distribution networks in Tabatinga to benefit over 2,000 people, GINA stated.
The Tabatinga area is slated for development under the Second Low Income Settlement Programme which is shortly to be implemented by the government with assistance from the Inter-American Development Bank.
The recent initiative of the ‘One Stop Shop’ aims at cutting the high volume of house lot applications while increasing efficiency in the delivery of services.
Applications have been processed in both the middle and low-income groups at previous outreaches held in various regions across the country.
The housing ministry’s objective, GINA said, is to develop, process and allocate 17,000 house lots by December 2010 with a focus on every area where there is demand.
According to GINA, Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali told residents that a housing scheme in Culvert City and a commercial and industrial zone in Lethem which has great development potential as a result of cross-border trade and road and air linkages to the capital, Georgetown, would be developed.
However, residents have expressed concern over non-occupancy of house lots, and raised other issues such as land for young professionals, the backlog in applications, and persons possessing multiple plots of land.
The ministry is aware of the problems, the minister said, and explained that the programmes that are being implemented are people-centred.
The ministry is aiming to raise the occupancy level to 70 percent and he urged allottees to occupy their lots as non-occupancy slows the development process and hinders access to basic amenities.
Meanwhile, Central Housing & Planning Authority, Chief Executive Officer Myrna Pitt said that the outreach enables the CH&PA to extend its services and seize the opportunity to have a firsthand look at the area and emerging issues related to the Brazil/Guyana Takutu Bridge.
Pitt said the authority was instrumental in the preparation of the Lethem Development Plan within the context of its strategic location in the southern most part of the country and recognizing the potential growth in the area.
The plan, Pitt said, is a land use policy-based plan which sets out the general guidelines for dealing with planning issues, and the land use policy context for more detailed planning at a later stage as the momentum for development in the areas increases.
“These are exciting times in Lethem, we expect that there will be an upsurge in commercial activity in the area and in this regard, the Central Authority, in association with the Environmental Protection Agency, prepared draft guidelines for the development of commercial land at Lethem.
Along with this, we expect there will be housing-related issues that will have to be addressed, as a direct spin-off of the expected increase in commercial activity,” she was quoted by GINA as saying.
The existing Lethem Development Plan will be reviewed to ensure that its policies and proposals are in keeping with current emerging trends, GINA added.
