Housing development, 24-hour water access for Mahdia

Residents of Mahdia and surrounding areas in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) will benefit from improved housing and water as part of continued development within the township.

This was announced by Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal, who along with Amerindian Affairs Minister, Pauline Sukhai, led a community engagement at the Mahdia Secondary School on Sunday.

During brief remarks, Minister Croal explained that in 2004, the housing ministry held lotteries where persons were allocated house lots in an area earmarked for housing development in Mahdia.

Subsequently, the town council allocated house lots in the same area which resulted in double allocations coupled with encroachment by miners.

Notwithstanding this, Minister Croal has committed to addressing these issues within the shortest possible time as steps will be taken to regularise the Mahdia Housing Development.

He said a team will return early next month to reassess the area located aback of the airstrip. Each household and available house lots will be documented. Other housing services will also be provided including updates to pending applications, as well as new applications.

“It is our intention to address these housing areas as we have been doing across the country…once there are remaining lots, we will do the necessary regularisation,” the minister assured the residents.

Mahdia has a population of over 14,000 people spread across four constituencies.

The water supply system in the area consists of a gravity fed system which transmits water from the Salbora spring to the township. This is in addition to two small wells located at 7 Miles and Central Administrative area which supply water to the residents on a rotation schedule.

To this end, Minister Coral announced that as part of the Guyana Water Incorporated’s (GWI) 2023 work programme, a new well will be drilled within the housing area which will provide 100 per cent access to water on a 24/7 basis.

He reminded the residents of the interventions made by the PPP/C Administration since 2020.

In 2021, in Region Eight alone, close to $50 million was invested, with another $220 million to be spent on new wells this year in areas such as, Kato, Itabac, Kamana, Sand Hill, Maikwak, Danju Hill and Pepper Hill.

Minister Sukhai explained that the visit forms part of the government’s mandate to engage the residents at the community level, listen to their issues and challenges and provide solutions.

“Our government is building a Guyana where everyone can make a contribution and continues to provide the platform for residents to raise issues and concerns affecting them,” she asserted.

One of the issues residents raised was the need for decentralisation through the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), the passport office and the deeds registry.

Minister Sukhai said that she will be making representation by proposing the establishment of a ‘one stop shop’ where all those services can be accessed in Mahdia, to ease the burden of residents having to travel to the coast to access those services.

Following the meeting, Ministers Croal and Sukhai along with other technical officers visited the Mahdia Housing Development.