Govt targets 11,000 house lots for Reg. 3 by next year-end

Nearly 11,000 people in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) awaiting house lots will be allocated land by the end of next year, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said as he addressed scores of residents gathered for his public day outreach at the National Track and Field Centre in Leonora, West Coast Demerara (WCD) on Friday.

He noted that the administration remains committed to clearing the backlog everywhere except Region Four, where the volume of applications is too high to clear within the same timeframe.

“We have made a commitment that we are going to work to try to clear the backlog in nine regions of Guyana by the end of next year,” he said.

In Region Four, allocations have only reached applications filed in 2020 and 2021, which means newer applicants still face a wait of three to four years.

Region Three alone has close to 11,000 people waiting for house blocks, he said, and the main obstacle is the shortage of state land. From the area up to Parika, most of the land is privately owned, apart from a parcel now being cultivated by GuySuCo.

Much of the new development is being concentrated in Wales, where house blocks have already been handed out.

The government recovered a large portion of land at the former Wales estate, which Dr Jagdeo said the former APNU administration allocated when the estate was closed, and is now developing it for housing.

He said it costs between $5 million and $7 million to develop a single house block, because the land involved is a former cane field that has to be excavated, drained and connected by roads.

Developing the outstanding 11,000 blocks before the end of next year will run into billions of dollars, but the money will be spent.

“We have to develop 11,000 house blocks between now and the end of next year, so everyone who applied can get their house,” he said.

VP Jagdeo urged residents who already hold lots in Wales not to give them up or relocate. He pointed to major road works that will improve access to the area.

The government has awarded a contract for a four-lane road from the Demerara Harbour Bridge to Parika, and a bypass road is being planned to ease congestion between Windsor Forest and Tuschen. He linked the pressure to the rise in vehicle ownership, noting that about 10,000 vehicles enter the country every three months, or roughly 40,000 a year.

Most future allocations in the region are expected to be around Wales, which Dr Jagdeo said remains close to Georgetown and will be easily reached from Parika once the four-lane road is completed.

“Don’t be too picky. We don’t have much land at this end. It’s all private land,” he encouraged the residents.

Dr Jagdeo also signalled a new programme to help people build their homes, which he said will be launched in the coming weeks.

The vice president is accompanied by various government ministers and officials. [DPI]