Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali has said construction will soon start on a highway from the Parfaite Harmonie housing scheme to the Demerara Harbour Bridge, as part of plans to develop Region Three.
He made this statement in his address at the ministry’s most recent ‘One Stop Shop’ house lot distribution exercise, which was held at Uitvlugt on Wednesday.
He said the new highway from Parfait Harmonie to the Demerara Harbour Bridge is part of a $600M investment in the housing scheme.
Over 440 house lots were distributed to residents, who will soon occupy the new housing scheme at DeGroot En Klyne/Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara (WCD), the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.
Government has invested $387M to develop the scheme and it is about 75% completed.
Developing the Uitvlugt scheme is a $53,000 per capita investment, with a subsidy of 42.32%. “This means that for every one of the plot developed, we (government) would have invested $900,000 and that does not even include administrative cost,” Ali was quoted as saying.
From 2004 to 2011, government invested $6B to develop schemes in Region Three, which have benefitted over 110,000 people. In underscoring these achievements, Ali said more applications are being processed for young people seeking to become home owners than a few years ago.
“While we are working to have Region Three further developed, we are at the same time having a no nonsense approach to persons who choose to sit on lands allocated… there are families out there who are in dire need,” he said. In this regard, the ministry plans to put before the courts persons who had sold parcels of land allocated to them as this is illegal. He said the ministry will seek redress from the courts to have the sums paid for those lands forfeited.
In addition, the ministry is currently in negotiations with the management and board of the Guyana Sugar Corpora-tion for the acquisition of two stretches of land it hopes to develop next year at De Willem/Zeelugt, WCD and Versailles (behind the Power Plant).
Region Three Chairman Julius Faerber praised the ministry for expanding its plans for housing in the region, while noting the many difficulties some families have to endure while living with relatives.
“In Region Three, a number of schemes have been developed benefiting hundreds of families… however, while mechanisms have been put in place for the development of new schemes I urge you not to sit on these lands allocated here today, but rather to construct speedily,” he said.
According to GINA, government has also engaged some major commercial banks and the private sector to offer at reduced rates a number of services for persons building their homes, such as the cost of building materials, home furnishings and mortgages.
During the ‘One Stop Shop,’ allottees were also educated on the importance of adhering to rules, regulations and building standards by Development Facilitation Officer at the ministry Orsen Simon. He pointed out that for development to take place in an orderly manner, rules governing the construction industry must be followed.
Meanwhile, a similar distribution exercise was held on Saturday in Bartica, Region Seven, where 400 persons benefited.
