House lot distribution falls slightly short of target
New schemes to be opened at Wisroc, Corriverton
Stabroek News
January 3, 2004
The Ministry of Housing and Water last year distributed 4,739 house lots out of a target of 5,000 and processed 6,020 titles out of a target of between 8,000 and 10,000.
And this year the ministry intends to process 4,000 to 5,000 titles, according to Minister Shaik Baksh. He reiterated that to encourage this, the conveyance fee for the processing of the land has been reduced from $12,000 to $8,000 and that this reduction would continue until June 2004.
Baksh held a press conference yesterday, during which he reviewed the ministry's performance for 2003 and outlined plans for 2004.
The press conference was held at the studios of the Guyana Television Broad-casting Company (GTV) on Homestretch Avenue.
Speaking of the ministry's efforts to construct houses, Baksh said that out of a target of 270, 215 houses were built for last year. He said that the ministry is working in close collaboration with private developers.
Baksh lauded the New Building Society's reduction of its mortgage rate by one percentage point and encouraged the other financial institutions to follow suit. He noted that the Land Registry has been delinked from the Deeds Registry and because of this the bottlenecks which once occurred in the system are no more.
He said too that in 2004, the ministry plans to open two housing schemes; one in Wisroc and the other in Corriverton.
He said that each of them is to provide homes for 1,000 persons. He disclosed that block surveys have begun at Wisroc.
For the scheme at Corriverton, the ministry has acquired over 200 acres of land from the Guyana Sugar Corporation and allocation of that land should begin by the end of 2004. He said that the level of occupancy is still a concern.
"While we are satisfied with the increased rate of occupancy we want that rate to be intensified in 2004," he said.
And to this he added that the ministry would be intensely repossessing plots of land that are not put to use by the allottees.
He said that the ministry will be working according to policy guidelines and all the lands to be repossessed will be advertised in the press. According to the minister, all persons from whom plots were repossessed would be placed on a register for available land in the future.
According to Baksh, there are approximately 145 squatter settlements across the country and to date 114 areas have been incorporated under the squatter-regularisation programme. Baksh said that this year an additional 15 would be added to the programme.
He said that the regularisation programme caters for basic infrastructure. He declared that the ministry is moving ahead with the infrastructural development and 11 of the 12 areas will be catered for under the Government of Guyana/Inter-American Development Bank (GOG/IDB) project. During 2004, another 12 areas will be brought under this programme.
In the area of electricity, Baksh announced that a new initiative to supply power to unserved areas would be implemented in collaboration with the Prime Minister's Office.
Turning to water, Baksh stated that he is hoping that for the new year, leakages and wastage of water will be tackled, especially along the East Coast.
He said too that pumps have arrived and that they will be installed this month. With the new equipment, works which once took days to fix will be done overnight.
Baksh admitted that the hinterland water programmes had not gone very well last year, but plans are in place this year for the provision of water in hinterland communities.
He said that sections of Georgetown are to benefit from a new distribution system; these include South Ruimveldt, Campbellville and West Ruimveldt.
During this year, the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) will install two iron-removal plants.
Water action committees are to be set up and these are to work closely with the GWI to ensure that a steady supply of water is provided.
He said that these committees will have hotlines to the Ministry of Housing and Water. In 2004 the benchmarks by which the GWI will be assessed will come into force.
These benchmarks include the collections ratio, response time to complaints and wastage and the provision of water on a 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week basis.
GWI has now been brought under the oversight of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), which will not only regulate tariffs, but also attend to customer complaints. But he said that much more is to be done in terms of billing and collection.
He added that the time factor for responding to breakages needs to be tightened.
He said that he had a meeting with the GWI Board and the utility has submitted a proposal for tariff increases for 2004.
The proposal is to be considered.