Over 4,800 acres of land identified to address Region Five housing needs

Minister with the Ministry of Housing and Water, Hon. Susan Rodrigues on Friday visited several communities in Mahaica-Berbice (Region Five) to identify land that could be used to meet the needs of the over 3,500 applicants in the Region.

Some 4,800 acres of land was identified in the villages of Dantzig, Fort Wellington, Experiment, Referendum and Shieldstown. All the land, except those in Experiment, are owned by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary Agricultural Development Authority.

Minister Rodrigues said when the Government took office, the Region had no housing development plans. She said the visit is the Ministry’s first step in remedying the situation.

“If we were to get even half of all the lands that we have identified we would be able to satisfy the housing demands for Region Five.

I thought this was a timely visit, so in case we need to go back to Parliament for supplementary, we can do that so we can effect the transfer and do the designs for the areas,” Minister Rodrigues said.

Expansion works have already begun in Experiment. However, Minister Rodrigues said the four contractors have been lagging behind. The contractors Shereaz Bacchus, Rommel Jagroop, Ivor Allen and Navindra Doodnauth are responsible for lots one, two, three and four respectfully.

“As it relates to the ongoing works in Experiment, they have said to us that the weather is the concern, but I want to put them on notice that they can design their work plan in a way where they can do some excavating in the area and get the work moving because we have a strict timeline that we are sticking too. So, I need them to speed up the work there in Experiment,” the Minister said.

The deadline is set for October 2021.

Over in Referendum village, the Minister said there are 40 households that are informally settled there. The Ministry will be working with GuySuCo to acquire the land to develop a housing scheme.

The Government in its manifesto, committed to allocating some 50,000 house lots over a five-year period, averaging 10,000 lots per year.

The Ministry has since held several housing drives where close to 4000 lots have been allocated.

The Ministry of Housing and Water have made budgetary provisions in the 2021 Budget to develop lands in several regions countrywide. Some $455 million has been earmarked for housing development in Region Five.

The Government is also seeking to address the more than 70,000 house lot applications backlogged in the system.