The record is there for everyone to see

Dear Editor,

In any society, basic necessities of life always take centre stage, as they subscribe to the fundamentals of the wellbeing of the people, regardless of their economic or social status. In Guyana, one of these necessities is the life-long dream of the Guyanese man or woman to own his or her own home. To make their dream a reality, some of them would stop at nothing, but continue to traverse the hard road to success until this cherished goal is achieved.

In this endeavour, the Housing and Water Ministry, which is responsible for making house lots available to the entire nation, has, for just under two decades now, spared no effort to realise this goal for Guyanese; and for the first time in the history of this country after 1992, thousands of Guyanese from all walks of life have started putting shape to their dream of building their own homes.

Prior to this, the housing situation in Guyana was nothing short of a nightmare and a shattered dream. So bad was the situation; so bad was their economic situation; so hopeless was their hope, that with increase in family size, most of the people resorted to squatting (illegal occupation of land).

The story of housing in Guyana has a genesis in the former PNC government, which in an unprecedented move closed down the Housing Ministry sometime before 1992 and left to function only a depleted Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA). However, recognising the importance of such a ministry, immediately after coming to power in 1992, the PPP/ C re-established the ministry and re-activated the CH&PA, which have since developed a dynamic housing programme which has, over the years, been addressing the issue of demand for house lots by Guyanese throughout the country.

So severe was the situation that it was discovered that to bring some degree of relief, some 28,790 houses or an average of 5,758 new housing units, were needed each year for the first five years following 1992; and working assiduously with increasing pace, by the end of 1996, just four years after taking power, the ministry distributed some 12,000 house lots to Guyanese in various parts of the country.

It was not easy sailing in churning out the house lots, as the land first had to be identified, and very soon the authorities had to embark on a divestment programme, since most of the vacant lands on the Coastal Belt were owned by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). The land divestment policy of the government has allowed many squatting areas to develop into housing schemes.

A year-by-year breakdown shows that, in 1993, the first year that the government came into power, some 359 house lots were distributed. 1994 saw some 1,025 lots going out to the people. This figure jumped to 4,122 in 1995; while, in 1996, an additional 4,068 lots were distributed. This trend continued in 1997, when 4,051 lots were distributed to the people. In 1998, the figure almost doubled when 8,045 lots were distributed, along with another 6,544 in 1999. The figure skyrocketed in 2000 when a whopping 22,460 house lots were distributed to Guyanese in different parts of the country. The following two years, 2001 and 2002, produced 5,170 lots, bringing the figure to almost 60,000, the number of house lots distributed from 1993 to 2002.

A great number of these squatter settlements in Regions Three, Four and Six in particular have been regularised and are enjoying the basic necessities, like water and electricity, roads and drainage.

Over the years, the government has kept a tight grip on its housing policy; and even today, it remains proactive in its housing drive, which has so far served well towards eliminating the need for people to resort to squatting. Government has even come up with innovations to better address the housing needs of the people with its “One Stop Shop” policy in the allocation and distribution processes of the housing policy— a way of decentralising the work of the ministry.

The ministry is working full pace at satisfying the housing needs of the people of this country, and for the past three years has distributed 17,000 lots to Guyanese, while for the 16 years, the ministry has distributed a record number of 80,000 house lots to Guyanese.

The ministry is not yet finished with its drive to satisfy the housing needs of Guyanese, as quite a few more ‘One Stop Shops’ are planned during this year, when more and more house lots will be distributed.

The people are taking advantage of the ministry’s generosity, and are grasping every opportunity that would take them a step further into their own homes.

Yours,

M H Khan