New year, new beginnings – Greenwich Park families gain legal land ownership

– President Irfaan Ali waives administrative and survey fees

Home ownership gives families security, dignity, and the freedom to invest in their future. It allows children to grow up with stability, inspires confidence to start businesses, and unlocks access to financial opportunities.

For generations, residents of Greenwich Park, East Bank Essequibo, Region Three, lived on lands without formal home ownership, which posed many challenges. On Wednesday, December 31, the final day of 2025, President Ali removed those challenges, presenting residents with legal ownership of the lands they’ve called home for decades.

Beaming with pride and joy, Prakash Indar said that he had dreamed of this precise moment for a very long time.

“We have waited such a long time for this [land title], but now that I have my title, I know that I was not waiting in vain. I’m so happy,” Indar said.

Describing the moment as the end of a decades-long struggle for legal ownership and a new beginning for families entering the New Year with renewed hope and opportunity, President Ali himself presented the legal documents to the residents at State House.

“For generations, many people died without having ownership. You could not have gotten the value of the land,” President Ali said, recalling years of legal, administrative and boundary challenges that stalled the process.

He noted that the regularisation initiative began as far back as 2009, with block and occupational surveys completed, but progress was halted between 2015 and 2020 when the previous administration abandoned the process.

Upon returning to office in 2020, the government reignited the process, issuing allocation letters and agreements of sale and moving forward into the critical second phase to secure titles.

“For your area, about 34 allocation letters were issued, and today I am pleased to tell you that 25 titles are ready, with 15 families receiving their certificates this afternoon,” the President announced, to cheers and a resounding applause.

An additional relief measure was adopted by President Ali when he directed the Ministry of Housing to waive the approximately $35,000 in survey, conveyancing and administrative fees for the beneficiaries, citing the more than 40-year wait that the families had endured.

“This is why government matters. Who you choose to represent you matters,” he said, adding that the ceremony was deliberately held before the New Year to ensure families did not enter 2026 without their titles in hand.

The Head of State reinforced that land ownership is a powerful tool for empowerment, enabling families to access financing to extend or improve their homes or to invest in business ventures. He announced that arrangements will be made with the New Building Society (NBS) and commercial banks to facilitate access to mortgages for new title holders.

“This day is for you, for your parents and family members who did not live to see this moment. Today, you enter the New Year with new hope and new aspirations,” President Ali said, thanking residents for their patience, discipline and commitment throughout the process.

He also acknowledged the role of the Ministry of Housing and its technical staff, many of whom began the regularisation journey in 2009, for seeing the process to completion.

The president and staff pledged to continue working toward the goal of issuing titles across all regions, from Region One to Region Ten, during the president’s current term, while recognising the scale of the task, particularly in highly populated regions.

Residents of Cotton Field, Region Two, will also benefit from a land title distribution exercise on January 9, also to be led by President Ali.