Occupancy rate is major challenge to housing sector
-Baksh
Guyana Chronicle
June 18, 2004
MINISTER with the portfolio, Mr Shaik Baksh said Wednesday that the major challenge facing the housing sector is the occupancy rate in schemes.
He said, since a repossession programme started, his Ministry has been encouraging people to start construction and individuals are given a time frame within which, if they fail to do so, the land is taken back and given to someone else.
The defaulters in such cases are then placed on a register for allocation the following year, if the person is ready to build, he explained to participants at a one-day workshop on housing affordability and mortgage underwriting.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) said Minister Baksh told the gathering to consider extending the period allowed for mortgages and the possible lowering of payments for the first few years.
Those taking part in the Embassy Courtyard, Pere Street, Kitty, Georgetown forum, included representatives of financial institutions countrywide.
On the agenda were group discussions on the legal and regulatory environment process, marketing and outreach, future sources of assistance, non-traditional underwriting and credit, as well as sources and types of financial assistance needed.
The working sessions were expected to chart the course for future mortgage financing and the facilitator was Deputy Housing Commissioner under the Bill Clinton Administration in the United States, Ms Ira Peppercorn.
Minister Baksh said the Guyana Government embarked on an ambitious and challenging housing programme in 1992, despite constraints related to affordable financing.
He said there have been many significant and notable achievements by way of land divestment and infrastructure development.
Baksh said the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) has allocated more than 60,000 house lots and opened some 100 housing schemes throughout the country.
According to him, an important driving force in the thrust is the partnership between the public and private sectors in mortgage funding.
Baksh disclosed that 12 private developers are now working to provide low-income houses at affordable prices and many others have expressed interest in the business.
He said he hopes that, during this year, the basic infrastructure, including paved roads and potable water supply, would be completed in all housing areas.
Baksh said an electrification project is to commence shortly, through a joint Government of Guyana/Inter-American Development Bank (GoG/IDB) scheme that will concentrate on old housing areas.
But the Government is pursuing implementation of another programme that will provide electricity to new housing areas.
Programme Coordinator of the Low-Income Settlements Programme in the Housing Ministry, Mr Khemraj Rai announced that, through the first phase of the GoG/IDB funding, infrastructural works are being effected in 12 areas.
Among them are Good Hope/Pomona, Charity and Charity Extension in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam); Block Eight Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo and Crane/Best, West Coast Demerara, both in Region Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands); Diamond/Grove, East Bank Demerara and Non Pariel, Foulis and Good Hope, on East Coast Demerara, in Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica).
Under phase two, several other places will benefit, including Parfaite/Harmonie, West Bank Demerara and Sections A, B and C, Farmers’ Field and Plum Park, all in Sophia, Greater Georgetown.
Rai said another Government programme, supported by the European Union (EU), will benefit several more places, including Bell West, West Bank Demerara; Glasgow, East Bank Berbice; Sophia and Area ‘Y’, Cummings Lodge, Greater Georgetown.