With the Ministry of Housing being flooded with complaints about the quality of the Young Professional and Core Homes being constructed, Housing Minister Collin Croal today warned that penal measures would be enforced against delinquent contractors.
In an interview this morning on GoMoseley Radio, Minister Croal said some contractors could even find themselves being barred from bidding to construct government houses. He said just last Thursday, his Ministry met with contractors to make its position known.
“We also have situations where persons looking to cut every corner. And it will come down to where we have penal measures for persons who are not building in accordance. And so, we will have to bar persons who are not building in accordance with the specifications,” the Minister said.
Minister Croal said at the level of the Central Housing and Planning Authority, and by extension the Housing Ministry, increased monitoring is also required to ensure home owners get value for their money.
“It can’t be business as usual. It can’t be the usual way of how we have been building houses,” the Housing Minister said, adding that the Housing Ministry will be rigidly enforcing the Defects Liability Clause in contracts issued to contractors.
The Irfaan Ali Administration is aiming to support the construction of 40,000 new homes between 2025 and 2030. To meet this objective, Minister Croal said the Government is now moving in the direction of constructing more modular and prefab houses.
He said as the Government moves in this direction, it would have no choice than to “alienate” some contractors.
“We will have to alienate some of the delinquent contractors. So, a lot of them that you see that are in the system now that we have had some problems with you will not see them moving forward on the 40,000 that I am alluding to. Because we have taken note of those that we have had challenges with,” the Housing Minister said.
The Housing Minister said Guyanese cannot be “making ends meet” to acquire their own home, and then be forced to carry out remedial works because the building was handed over with deficiencies.
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