Surveyor reduced lot size by 25 ft in housing scheme

Dear Editor,

I bought a piece of land in Grove, Section A Block Y, New Housing Scheme on the East Bank Demerara valued at five hundred thousand dollars and the size of land given to me was 50 x 80 from the Ministry of Housing in 2006. Low income buyers paid $102,000 each for pieces of land some of which were 44 x 80, 56 x 80, 40 x 80 and 64 x 100.  Diamond Scheme land is valued at $1.2 million for a piece of land measuring 60 x 120 or 64 x 120, etc.

I think some people in Section A Grove land were skimped, including myself, by a former surveyor from Ministry of Housing. The land size for the middle income lots should be 55 x 100 not 50 x 80.

I had asked a member of staff at Housing what the size of .999 acres is and she said that she didn‘t know. At that time, I didn’t think about it, but recently, it was brought to my attention.

Under the former Minister of Housing Mr Shaik Baksh, a proper job was not done to verify and survey these lands. We have been skimped by 25ft of land and yet we paid in full.

If Housing tells us that 50 x 80 is the correct measurement for the middle income, then I would call that bare-faced robbery.

Yours faithfully,
(Name and address
provided)

Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Minister of Housing, Mr Irfaan Ally, for any comment he might wish to make.