Over the next five years the government is expected to spend the sum of $5.4 billion, provided by the Inter-American Development Bank, in infrastructure.

Fourteen housing schemes and squatter settlements will benefit from the first tranche to be disbursed, Minister of Housing and Water, Shaik Baksh, said.

In addition, Baksh said that another $1.8 billion "will be coming through the EU [European Union] for the housing sector."

He has also predicted that within another two to three years rental for housing will drop on account of the home ownership boom.

In his budget debate presentation, Baksh said that among the first 14 housing schemes and squatter settlements to benefit under the IDB-funded programme are Tuschen, Good Hope, Block X in Diamond, Block Y in Golden Grove, Amelia's Ward, Plantation Best, Charity, Anna Regina, Four Miles at Bartica, Waterloo, Experiment and Hope.

Speaking of housing development, Baksh said that government was looking at the subject in terms of a six-pronged approach, the first of it being to divest state and government lands and subsequently distribute them as house lots.

Predicting that within another two to three years there would be a fall in rental charges for apartment for housing in the country, Baksh said that there were two massive housing estates totalling over 11,000 being opened up right now. The first, he said was at Diamond/Grove, which has over 5,000 house lots and the other at Harmonie with over 6,000 house lots. Harmonie is dubbed the largest housing scheme in the country.

From 1992 to date, he said that government distributed over 50,000 house lots and was in the process of ensuring occupancy of those lots. Contending that the government was ensuring that all allottees received titles to land, Baksh said that prior to 1992 there was a trickle of deeds coming through the Deeds Registry but last year alone over 2,000 titles were processed and "this year over 5,000 will be coming out."

Stating that the second approach will be to give out titles of ownership, Baksh said that just one month ago, he gave out 145 titles to the residents in Sophia, which is "the largest squatter settlement in the country. The ministry, he said has set a target of 2,000 titles to be handed over to homeowners in Sophia alone, this year.

The third approach, he said, was to regularise all the squatter settlements. The ministry has completed regularising 62 squatter settlement and this year hopes to complete another 20 to 25. Baksh said that in relation to regularising the squatting, "we will eliminate the backlog of squatter settlements. This was a difficult challenge but "we are moving in all the regions to ensure that we convert the squatter settlements to housing areas. A lofty goal indeed."

The fourth approach, he said, was to build infrastructure. Last year government spent over $1 billion putting in roads, drainage and water in housing schemes and squatter settlements.

Baksh said that the government has spent $250 million in Sophia alone for infrastructural works including a complete drainage network. At present, he said that government was

building a road at Pattensen in Section B.

Noting that there was a large number of roads to be built in Sophia and elsewhere, he said that government has a policy of incremental development for infrastructure because there were a large number of squatter settlement and housing schemes and all could not be undertaken at the same time.

In Sophia, too, he said that the government was building a $110 million primary school in addition to the $250 million spent on other infrastructural works.

Though the PNC/R was not in parliament, he said, it was comparing Sophia to the small squatter settlement, Martyr's Ville where the people, through their own efforts, pooled their money and labour to obtain electricity and water in the community. Government, he said, assisted in building four roads to the tune of $20 million.

Last year, government also completed a US$1 million project financed by the government and the World Bank to install complete water supply systems in 19 squatter settlements including Tuschen north, Zeelugt north, Ocean Gardens, Caneville, Goedverwagting, Sparendaam, Belvedere, Williamsburg. And Baksh said "they will give us another US$1 million to continue that work." Some 30,000 residents benefited from that programme.

The fifth approach, he said, was to launch training programmes for leaders of the housing schemes and regularised squatter settlements in conjunction with the community development committees in the respective areas.

The last approach, he said, was to build 500 low-cost houses in 17 housing schemes, which have already been identified. The construction of the first 100 houses have begun in Cornelia Ida and Diamond/Grove. Among the 17 schemes where government will build houses are Glasgow, Number 77 Village and Amelia's Ward.