President Irfaan Ali said that while his government is willing and ready to assist the residents of the Success squatter settlement, there must be a sustainable approach in developing housing areas.
President Ali made this statement, while addressing the gathering at the Ministry of Housing and Water’s Title distribution exercise, held on Friday at the National Stadium in Providence.
“I said to my brothers and sisters in Success, who we have reached out to on many occasions, it is not that we want you to be dislodged in the area. We want you to own your homes too. That is why we sent the housing team so many times to see you, but there is a right way of doing things and the wrong way. In Guyana, we have to get accustomed to doing things the right way. Otherwise we’ll be developing communities that are not sustainable.”
The Head of State was at the time speaking about the range of benefits which come with regularised housing settlements, including creating homes, strengthening families, bringing communities together and uplifting the country in unity, prosperity and progress.
“If you invest $5 million in a squatter settlement, there is no value because it cannot be used as collateral. If you invested in a structured scheme, there is value. You can capitalise, sometimes for more than $5 million, $7 million, $8 million,” President Ali added.
On this note, he once again urged those taking up residence illegally to see the merits of doing things the right way.
“We want to help you. We’re going to move as fast as possible on this programme, but I am appealing to Guyanese, let us do it the right way,” the President added. ( Office President)
