Housing Minister addresses Lindeners’ concerns

─system backlog to be tackled

Minister of Housing and Water, Hon. Collin Croal on Wednesday led a “Linden Outreach” to the mining town to address residents’ housing issues.

He was accompanied by a team from the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) which hosted the event at the Watooka Guest House.

“Our primary visit to Region Ten is because as part of the mandate of our housing programme right across our country – in every region – we have a responsibility to respond to all of your needs,” Minister Croal told residents.

The Housing team included staff from the surveying department and others to facilitate applications and general queries.

One of the issues addressed by Minister Croal was the backlog in house lot applications. 

“In the system, there are approximately 4,000 persons who have applied in the system awaiting allocations under Region Ten. That’s our starting point,” the Minister told residents.

This is a subset of the 70,000 nationwide backlog inherited by the Minister. He told Lindeners tackling that backlog would be the Ministry’s focus in addressing housing issues in the Region.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CH&PA, Mr. Sherwyn Greaves said the event was necessary to have a first-hand look at the regional situation and assured the residents that their concerns would not be shelved. 

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“You can be assured that whatever you have raised here today, will be addressed in a short space of time,” he said.

Linden resident, Ms. Carol Alves received more than that commitment for her land issue.

“I bought the property in 2009 and I been up and down trying to get a title, it so happened that […] I saw the ad running on the TV that the Minister would be here at the guest house,” she said.

Ms. Alves said that she visited the regional office several times to no avail and construction on the land she bought has been stalled since she is unable to produce her title.

The Minister and team checked her documents on the spot and found an immediate solution.

“Within three weeks I’ll get the letter in case I need to do anything on the land […] He [Minister Croal] said he’ll get the letter to me and within six weeks I’ll get the title. So, I’m happy about that,” said an elated Ms. Alves.

She added, “it’s very beneficial because I’ll be able to start the process of building.”

CEO of the Linden Enterprise Network (LEN), Tannizia Gasper also attended the event.

“I’m here to foster better relations with Central Housing and Planning because, at LEN, we also do low-cost housing. So, it [the meeting] was good. From this we’ll have a further meeting with the CEO [of CH&PA],” Ms. Gasper said.

The Minister and team also visited several sites in Linden where the Ministry has ongoing projects.