Dear Editor,
I have noticed that of late the Minister of Housing is a TV star acting in the PPP administration’s housing drive. This has caused me to compare the PNC administration’s housing drive with that of the PPP administration.
The PNC’s progamme included housing schemes in Demerara, Berbice, Linden and Essequibo. The houses were built to take care of those families who could not afford to acquire their own home because of their circumstances. Apartments for rental were built, with rents ranging from $9 to $20 per month. Families that were in a position to own their homes were formed into self-help housing groups, with the administration providing the building materials, road, water, light; and at the completion of these houses they would repay through monthly instalments. Families that could afford to build their own homes were sold house lots.
In the case of the current housing drive, no provision is made for families who cannot afford to build their own homes. Those who want to get their homes are sold plots of land and told what to build.
Houses are being built for overseas Guyanese at enormous prices. Land is sold to some who divide it into sub-lots or build houses and sell them at high prices. A twenty family tenement yard is being converted either into a large business place or a large one-family house. When would the poor working class be able to own a house costing over $20,000,000?
After making this comparison I am left to find out how the Minister and the administration are looking after the poor in Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Vibert Benjamin
