60 Lindeners identify new house lots at Amelia’s Ward

Sixty persons in Linden, Region Ten were given the opportunity to identify their house lots in the first block of the Amelia’s Ward Phase Four housing development.

The house lot identification exercise was spearheaded by Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, and Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority, Sherwyn Greaves on Wednesday.

One of the allottees, Celestine Peters expressed joy at finally being able to identify her house lot after a long wait.

“It means a lot to me because I used to pay rent to ensure my children received an education, and now that I have grandchildren, it will be easier to take care of them,” the retired teacher told the Department of Public Information (DPI).

Peters shared that her next step is to prepare the land and start building her home. She plans to apply for the cement and steel subsidy to assist with the construction.

Single mother of one, Dionne Taitt is elated after owning the land she has been pursuing for over ten years.

Taitt also shared her thoughts on the government housing programme, stating that, “they are trying to get everyone to have their own home and I feel satisfied with that.”

Minister Croal explained that this was the first set of allottees to have access to their lands in the new housing development.

The government has distributed over 467 lots in Amelia’s Ward, and infrastructure works are currently ongoing in the area to enable these individuals to identify their house lots.

The minister disclosed that some of the challenges encountered during the development process included the presence of several squatters obstructing a major roadway in the area.

To address the issue, some of these individuals were compensated and provided with alternative locations. Some of those persons participated in the identification exercise.

“We promised that we will regularise the area and works have started…We want persons to live in a comfortable environment… we have to do things in a structured way,” Minister Croal stated.   

Meanwhile, Greaves highlighted the months of hard work that went into the development of the housing project. He noted the significant progress made, as it had taken nearly an hour to reach the location a year ago, compared to the five minutes journey now.

“Notwithstanding all the negativity in terms of persons squatting and preventing us from doing this work, we were able to deal with that…some of those persons are here today identifying their new lots,” he said.

Close to $4 billion has been earmarked for infrastructure development in the mining town this year. In 2021 alone, the government allocated a budget of $2.3 billion for infrastructure development in Linden, while $4.2 billion was spent the following year.