Central Housing and Planning Authority, through the Ministry of Housing and Water is responsible for acquiring lands by way of purchase in most cases, have them surveyed, parceled, priced and sold to allottees.
When the Authority was established in 1948, it was with the intention as per its Act, “to provide housing for the working class.” However, with the passage of time, the Authority has veered away from its sole mandate. Prices for house lots are set at reasonable prices since Government subsidised by ensuring the basic amenities (water and electricity, roads and bridges, including drains) are in place.
However, the discrimination, and corruption continues to plague this very important sector. Something is definitely wrong in the allocation of house lots. I believe the policy and systems by the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) regime, will continue to put many Guyanese at a disadvantage. Prior to the change in Government in 2015, the housing policy by the PPPC government was for one to qualify for a house lot, they had to be twenty-one (21) years of age, married with children or unmarried with children, et al.
What the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition Government did in its early period was to review and changed the policy; allowing the age criteria from “23 years to 18 years,” which in my view was reasonable. Since the returned to office by the PPPC, they have reversed this policy, and resorted to their “old habits.” I believe this is deliberate with the intent of the regime NOT to have Guyanese own their personal homes timely.
It is necessary that Guyanese be informed that it takes approximately, eighteen (18) to two (2) years to prepare an entire housing scheme. Therefore, at age eighteen (18) when an application is made, it is pending for two years, with an expectation of the applicant receiving his or her lot between ages 20-21. Why are persons made to wait years for an allocation?
It is suggesting to me that something is NOT RIGHT in the housing Sector. Is it a case where it’s designed that way, so that CORRUPTION can be the order of the day?
Apartment buildings are ubiquitous in every housing scheme, under CHPA. Perhaps, this has become normal in our society, while Colin Croal, Susan Rodrigues, Ifraan Ali, Bharrat Jagdeo, Mark Phillips and others would boast of the number of lots allocated or to be allocated by 2025, the famous figure of “50,000,” which I have stated in a previous article and will continue to lament its impossibly.
What they are not saying to us, how many Ministers have allegedly built apartments since August 2020? Is this a willful act; where swathes of lands are allegedly given to friends and associates of the PPPC for the purposes earlier advanced; causing Guyanese to live as tenants, having to pay high rentals, rather than owning theirs.
In many of the schemes, there are hundreds of unoccupied lands, overgrown by high weeds. It is evident in some cases, that the lands have not been maintained for years, putting tremendous pressure and burden on neighbours, in close proximity to maintain to avoid reptiles from intrusion.
To get a sense of what is happening in areas and why allottees have not commenced construction, a studied survey was conducted in 2016 under the Coalition Government and the findings revealed many factors; ranging from inaccessibility to lands, due to poor infrastructure or lack of infrastructure to being disqualified by financial institutions, after making application for mortgage finance.
Additionally, the real estate has become a lucrative business for persons, more so those who were allocated lands through CHPA. Many wait for the ten (10) years or twelve (12) years period, then disposed by selling. An example, ten or twelve years prior, the allottee would have paid $500,000.00 for a 50’*100’ house lot; thereafter sells at an exorbitant price of $40M.
While it is not my business what allottees do, I believe many persons are not acquiring lands from government to construct their houses;rather they are in the business of generating huge profits. This in my view is putting those really indeed at a disadvantage.
To be continued…
Hon Annette Ferguson- Shadow Minister of Housing and Water
