First 20 professional houses ready for young Lindeners

The first 20 elevated houses for young professionals, constructed in Amelia’s Ward in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice), have been completed and will soon be handed over, according to Housing Minister Collin Croal.

In January 2021, President Dr. Irfaan Ali announced that 1,000 houses will be constructed in Region 10. In the first phase of this project, the construction of 40 houses got underway.

By the end of this week, Minister Croal said the first 20 houses – half of the first set of houses being constructed – will be ready for the beneficiaries to move into.

“These are the people from Region 10 who’ve gone through the shortlisting and we are ready to allocate to them,” Minister Croal said on Monday during an interview with the News Room.

The individuals who will get these homes were chosen based on their income and based on their preference for a house given when they applied for a house lot at the ministry.

Meanwhile, Croal also noted that the construction of the remaining 20 houses is ongoing. Based on earlier reports, the construction of these 40 houses is expected to cost some $300 million.

On Monday, Croal said that over 200 jobs were created to advance the construction of the houses.

In Amelia’s Ward, too, 400 house lots have been distributed and the government has awarded contracts for the development of a new access road and the development of the area.

The Housing Ministry plans to develop Amelia’s Ward for hundreds of residents from the region. Three contracts totalling some $364 million have been signed for works here.

As part of these plans, the government is exploring the regularisation of the Amelia’s Ward squatting area. About 16 squatters were, reportedly, relocated to facilitate the construction of the new access road.

Two of those squatters will be given housing units, while the remaining 14 will be given house lots, Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sherwyn Greaves said on Monday.