With less than a year remaining in the government’s current term, Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, on Friday announced that the government will surpass the promised 50,000 house lots to citizens by the end of 2025.
“We will be surpassing 50,000 in the year 2025,” Croal confidently said at a yearend press conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
He revealed that the government would allocate far more than the annual target of 10,000 house lots.
The ministry in 2024 surpassed that target with 10, 791 lots allocated in 19 new housing schemes across the country. These areas include Wales in Region Three, Good Hope, La Bonne Intention and Yarrowkabra in Region Four, Palmyra in Region Six and Amelia’s Ward in Region Ten.
“In terms of our allocation therefore, this has been our most successful year,” Minister Croal said as he also called the achievements “robust” and the “busiest” year for his ministry.
With the 2024 milestone, the total allocations over a four-year period is now at 40, 290. Minister Croal explained that this does not include commercial lots allocated which would bring the 10, 791 to 11,000 for last year.
The two largest populated regions are Three and Four and as of 2024, 61 per cent of house lots were allocated in Region Four since 2020 and 22 per cent in Region Three.
Majority of the those who received lots are women with 26 per cent joint applications (male and female) and 28 per cent were allocated to men.
“Very often we speak about women empowerment and gender equality. Our analysis of the allocations will show that 46 per cent of those allocations were done to females,” Minister Croal said.
In terms of the age bracket, 53 per cent of the allocations are below 35 years and 32 per cent between ages 36 to 50.
Croal revealed that the ministry prioritised applications from 2019 but in some areas like Region Three applications were prioritised from 2021.
Categories of allocations saw majority in the middle income section with 72 per cent allocated since 2020; low income is at 43 per cent; middle income 19 per cent and high income at 9 per cent.
“The reality is that everyone is dealt with equality, there is a system we are working with,” Minister Croal said.
In 2024, the ministry acquired 4,900 acres of land for housing developments. Croal said the focus on developing virgin or unused lands is pivotal to meeting rising demands.
