Government pushing to distribute 10,000 new house lots this year

By Svetlana Marshall

The Government, through the Central Housing and Planning Authority, plans to distribute 10,000 house-lots this year, according to Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues.

“For this year, 2024, 10,000 house-lots will be delivered to Guyanese of every income category,” she said, while making her contribution to the Budget Debates on Thursday.

To achieve its objective, Minister Rodrigues said the Government will continue to invest in the development of its housing programme, which has seen the acquisition of 51 new areas by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) for housing development.

She said the results have been remarkable, with more than 30,000 Guyanese being allocated lands over the past three years.

“Mr. Speaker, 30,355 Guyanese are now land owners and now home owners; 13,834 women are empowered with ownership and can chart a course for their own lives; 16,094 young people are asset owners, and now have their entire lives to build up their network…28,016 people received low, moderate and middle-income house-lots; 28,000 low, moderate and middle-income families received their house-lots in three years,” Minister Rodrigues detailed.

Rodrigues said the Government has also provided low, moderate and middle-income homes including young professional homes to Guyanese, and has also provided a number of relief measures including mortgage interest relief, and steel and cement subsidies to first time home builders.

According to Rodrigues, the impact of the housing programme is being felt in the construction sector, which has seen increased production by 26.8%. Mortgage and real estate loans have also increased by 22.5%.

“NBS in 2020, the total mortgage portfolio was $3.5B. You know what it is Mr. Speaker? $19B, NBS alone. GBTI, July 2020, $6.2B; in 2023, the total housing loans at GBTI valued $15.8B. At Demerara Bank in 2020, $9.7B, July 2020, you know, $9.7B; December 2023, $21B,” she pointed out.

The Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal told the National Assembly that it was unfortunate that under the APNU+AFC Government, housing allocation saw a decline.

“Despite the Housing and Water Sectors seeing three ministers, a water down department, the APNU+AFC could not create the conditions critical to the sustainability of the sector. So, starved of public private partnerships, and burdened with punitive taxes, the distribution of titles and transports, the allocation of house-lots declined dramatically between 2015 and 2020. There was a backlog of 68,000 house-lot applicants,” Minister Croal said.

He said with much needed investment in the Housing Sector, the Government was able to meet the demands of the people.

Minister Croal said to ensure access to these house-lots, the Government has been building a number of new road networks.

“We have completed infrastructure works in more than 50 new housing schemes since August 2020, more than 23km of four-lane highways have been completed, and works are in progress on the Schoonord to Crane four-lane, and the Great Diamond to Buzz Bee Dam-Craig,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the Water Sector, access to potable water increased to 97% on the coastland with more than 35,000 residents nationwide receiving access to potable water for the first time over the past three years.

And according to both Ministers, access to treated water on the coastland will increase from 52% to 90% by 2025.

In the Hinterland, there have also been improvements to the water supply with new wells being commissioned and a number of new water treatment facilities being built.