About 9,000 house lots distributed since 2020

Between August 2020 and August 2021, about 9,000 house lots were allocated across Guyana with beneficiaries from every level of society.

Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal at a press conference on Friday said that this is just a dent in the over 70,000 backlog of applications for housing.

He said the government is on target to achieve its goal of distributing 50,000 house lots within five years. This is being done with the allocation of hundreds of house lots with the ministry’s ‘Dream Realised’ housing drives as well as the construction of core houses in several parts of Guyana.

“We have allocated close to 9,000 allocations since August 2020; we are on target to achieving our overall housing programme, you would recall this is a five-year implementation as part of our manifesto commitment,” Minister Croal said.

Meanwhile, the majority of the backlog applications are in Region Four – the most populated region in Guyana. The majority of the applicants are also in the low-income bracket and as such, the housing areas being developed are being tailored to suit low-income needs. The cost for these lots is dependent on the area; however, some are as low as $92, 000.

To this end, there are currently infrastructure works ongoing to the tune of $14 billion.

Additionally, Minister Croal explained that persons are seeing success in the housing drive and want to be homeowners. He revealed that for the year thus far, the ministry received 13, 000 new housing applications.

The minister said in the first quarter of 2022, hundreds of new house lots will be allotted.

The government is on an ambitious drive to reduce the gaps in the housing sector and has reduced VAT for building materials while banks reduced the interest rates for loans.

However, there are still complaints about building materials being too expensive; Minister Croal explained that is a result of the global pandemic and shipping woes.

“It is not unique to Guyana, it is a worldwide problem and is still in the dilemma of shipping where you have the issue of not enough coming into the country in terms of shipping and the shipping cost being tremendous,” Minister Croal said.

He assured that the government is monitoring and examining ways in which they can assist in resolving this issue.

Additionally, along with the housing projects, there is also the construction and rehabilitation of roads, bridges, and water distribution networks.

The ministry is also engaging NICIL and the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission for the acquisition of more lands for allocations.