
Hours before it became public that the CEO of the Central Housing and Planning Authority had resigned amid concerns over commercial land deals, President Irfaan Ali was on his social media pages in a broadcast defending the Government’s allocation process to private developers.
According to the President, private developers have to go through a rigorous process and meet certain commitments before they are given the title to lands.
The CHPA has been facing allegations of corruption over the sale and allocation of prime lands at Ogle and along the Heroes Highway on the East Bank of Demerara to developers who are believed to be close to the Government.
“When you look at the total acreage that was developed and divested into the hands of these Guyanese, as against the acreage that would have been allocated for private development or development by private developers, that allocation for private developers and commercial purposes, is less than 10% of the lands allocated for housing and house lots,” the President stated.

The President further explained that the resources generated from the sale of land to private developers are used to cross-subsidize investment for low, and middle-income families.
He said through the cross subsidization along with the Government’s investments, the CH&PA is able to heavily subsidize house lots that are delivered to ordinary Guyanese.
The President said lands sold to private developers are for developmental purposes and the process to be considered for those lands include the full payment for the land before it is divested, an agreement to develop drainage and other works in the area as well as several other standards have to be met.
“If you look at the agreement that we sign with private developers, regardless who the developers are—first of all there is a process, there was an expression of interest and private developers would have had the opportunity to respond to that expression of interest and all of the developers would have signed the same agreement,’ the President stated.
The President compared the housing policy of the former Government and his Government’s housing policy. He said land sale transactions under his Government have been above board.
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