Minister of Housing and Water Mr. Shaik Baksh took a first hand-look at infrastructural developments that are taking place in the scheme yesterday. The entire road and drainage networks are being constructed.

A contract for $39M has been awarded for the roads network, while another $14M is being spent to install the main water distribution system in the scheme. The contracts for the roads, drainage and main distribution system have been awarded to contractor Khemraj Singh.

The installation of the main water distribution system will be functional during this month and the road project will be completed by February 2003. It was noted that the water system would be connected to a nearby well, so that the scheme will be provided with water. However, Minister Baksh said that as the population of the scheme increases, a well might have to be drilled in the scheme to provide adequate service.

The new housing scheme is one of the largest schemes in the country with some 6,00 house lots. The plan of the scheme shows that there is provision for a school, play field, cemetery, health centres, Magistrates' Court, industrial development and other facilities. It was noted that the scheme would be developed in several phases.

Minister Baksh said: "We already have the interest of 1,000 persons who would want to build their houses within six months. This is the first development and we are also doing design for another 500 house lots, after which the contract for infrastructure development will be awarded in February 2003. In total, we want to develop about 1,000 house lots in phase one which would be mainly low-income, but there would be some middle-income lots".

Representatives from a popular Private Sector Investment Company accompanied the Minister. According to the Minister, the investor is interested in a number of lots for their employees, where the lots will be developed for workers. Top officials from World Homes Construction also accompanied the Minister.

"World Homes Construction was here because they are interested in putting up hundreds of houses in this scheme. We are going to give them 100 lots to build low-income houses and 25 for the middle-income section. They are willing to start in January, so this is signalling the rapid development of this scheme," said Minister Baksh.

He added that Government would be constructing about 100 low-income model houses in phase one through the revolving housing fund. It was noted that a total of 200 houses would be constructed in the scheme early next year to stimulate the development of the scheme.

To boost the housing drive of Guyana, Government had established a revolving fund, which is being used to construct low-income houses in several housing schemes across the country. The low-income houses were constructed at Cornelia Ida and Tuschen, Region Three, Diamond/Grove and Coldingen in Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica); Glasgow and Number 77 Village in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) and Amelia's Ward, Region Ten (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice), among others.

"I want to point out that we intend to bring this scheme under the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) programme next year, so that more rapid development in infrastructure can take place," said Minister Baksh.

The Minister is optimistic that by the end of 2003 there will be rapid development in the scheme.