Guyana’s housing development is an extraordinary one and should be shared with the region, St Vincent Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said on Tuesday during a tour of the East Bank Demerara corridor to witness the many housing schemes there.“I do not know of any programme of this magnitude anywhere else in the Caribbean; in the Eastern Caribbean and the OECS,” Dr Gonsalves was quoted in a Housing Ministry report as saying.
During the visit to several schemes along the East Bank, including Eccles, Mocha Arcadia and Providence, accompanied by Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali, the Vincentian leader lauded the policies and initiatives undertaken by the government to make access to housing affordable for its citizens.
Extraordinary
He explained, “We, in St Vincent and the Grenadines, we are reputed to have the best housing programme, but this one, the scale of it, because of the amount of vacant lands you have is extraordinary, and the prices are very good. It is only because of the cross subsidy, the people of Guyana – I don’t know if they fully appreciate what they have here”.
According to Dr Gonsalves, the developmental model being adopted in Guyana also allows for the integration of private sector development, taking into consideration low-middle-income and middle-income settlements.
Alluding to the significance of this, Prime Minister Gonsalves said, “I like the idea because of the amount of space you have, you can integrate private sector development houses of a bigger kind with the low-middle-income and middle-income houses. Obviously, when they are integrated, they will give a particular effect; it’s extraordinary and this is a success story that must be told to the region.”
Testimony to his confidence and belief in the model, Dr Gonsalves extended an invitation for local private developers to travel to St Vincent and to work towards further enhancing the housing development there.
“The state-owned housing and land development cooperation does good work, but also there is scope for private sector development and they have the liquidity and there are opportunities, obviously, you will get a greater return than if you leave your money in the bank… the people also from the private sector who are investing, I would like some of them to come to St Vincent to assist with the investment programme for housing,” he stated.
New vision
Minister Ali acknowledged Dr Gonsalves’ role in spearheading a new vision of the region and to leading the whole process of integration.
“I am very delighted that Dr Gonsalves himself is leading this effort at looking at examples within countries and to see how we can apply different examples in the region to further strengthen our programme.
“Many people may not know but Dr Gonsalves has a very, very strong social programme in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and that is one country within the region that has consistently done well and has been able to bridge the income gap, the equality gap very nicely”, Ali said.
As to the outcome of the visit to the various housing developments, Minister Ali expressed gratitude to the St Vincent Prime Minister for opening the way for the sharing of information and possible integration.
“We are looking to collaborate to have a St Vincent investment forum for GuyExpo and this is how the region should work together so that we can ensure that the liquidity and the capital within the region stays within the region so that we can build the region with each other’s strengths,” Ali said.
