The government is committing itself to distributing another 10,000 house lots in 2024, Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water Susan Rodrigues said on Tuesday during a post-budget engagement with the News Room.
According to Rodrigues, the ministry is focused on continuing its housing allocation programme this year. That means it has to invest in developing new schemes and improving people’s access to water and sanitation services.
And the Housing Ministry is poised to do just that with a larger sum allocated to it in this year’s National Budget.
A key focus is the distribution of 10,000 new house lots in pursuit of the government’s target of distributing 50,000 house lots between 2020 and 2025.
“We are continuing with our house lot allocation programme- our dream realised housing allocation- that will continue this year.
“Of course, we have another 10,000 lots to deliver this year,” Minister Rodrigues said.
From 2020 to 2023, she said 30,000 house lots were distributed. The government has also subsidised housing construction and will continue to do so in 2024 and 2025, Rodrigues said. Budgetary allocations this year cater for the construction of 1,134 more houses.
The budget was presented on Monday by Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh. In that budget, the government has set aside $78 billion specifically for the development of housing infrastructure across the country.
Another $22.5 billion has been budgeted to improve water quality and supply across the country.
Minister Rodrigues highlighted that the funds allocated help the Housing and Water Ministry continue projects that have been in the works or underway since 2020.
“These projects are multi-year projects so the budgetary allocations are to ensure that we deliver on these projects in keeping with these objectives in the housing and water sector.
“It’s a lot of measured progress,” Rodrigues explained.
