The construction of some 60 houses at Amelia’s Ward, Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) by Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), targeting low-income families is expected to commence within a month.
Contractors were allowed to bid for the contract in Linden about a week ago and according to Minister within the Communities Ministry, Valerie Yearwood, the project is currently at the tendering stage. Minister Yearwood said 30 flat houses at a cost of G$5.1 million and 30 houses on stilts at a cost of G$6.1 million would be built.
According to the Minister, 128 persons applied for the homes and 60 were pre-qualified by the bank. However, she noted that persons are yet to be shortlisted and this process would be done prior to construction.
“Because the bank is asking for us to send those persons in, for them to start processing them…The project is at the tendering stage. The contractors uplifted their bid documents…and the tenders will be opened on the 30th of this month (May). In three weeks’ time after that, we’ll commence construction. The roads are already in place and we’re just ready to go,” Minister Yearwood noted.
She added that the homes would be completed in batches and persons would be allowed to occupy them.
“As we complete one batch, we’ll allocate the houses, without waiting for the entire construction of the 60 houses before we begin to give occupancy,” she said.
The Minister further noted that there was ongoing discussion with the Linden Enterprise Network (LEN), which is currently in the process of constructing a model home at Amelia’s Ward, at the cost of G$3.5 million under its own initiative.
Minister Yearwood said since not everyone could qualify for the 60 houses, the discussion centred on possible collaboration in constructing the lower-cost homes for persons.
She noted that she recently visited the model home, along with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Board of LEN.
“We met with the inward Investment Manager of LEN, the Chairman and the CEO of the LEN Board. We started discussions and we’re going to follow-up in a week’s time…we are now going to engage LEN, because there are some persons who cannot pre-qualify for the G$5.1 million and the G$6.1 million homes because of their income. So, that will be the group we’re going to target. But we have not completed any negotiations yet with LEN. We just started the discussion. But it’s more than likely that we’re going to engage LEN on that process,” the Minister said.
She added that the Ministry was concerned about all categories of persons in Linden and was committed to providing houses and house lots to the people of Region 10. She stressed, however, that there was currently the issue of squatting in the Amelia’s Ward housing area. In this regard, she said lands would be allocated to those whose homes fall within the boundaries of a house lot; however, for those whose homes fall within the boundaries of a road or straddles two house lots, they would have to make a decision. Minister Yearwood said there were ongoing engagements with such persons in terms of rectifying this situation.
