Visionary thinking…

… in housing
The building boom on the coast is fulfilling a lot of dreams. For a society that began with most of its people forced to live in hovels – “the yards” and “bound quarters” – owning your own home is more than having a “shelter”. It’s the opportunity to live with a modicum of dignity in your own “castle”. But for too long that had been just a hope and a wish.
Back in 1972 the then government – with the best of intentions we’re sure – launched a five year “feed, house and clothe” the nation project. But for a host of reasons, which will not detain us today, housing for the “small man” became an even more distant dream. The poor fella had to worry about starvation and nakedness.
But no matter what its detractors may say, they cannot deny that the present People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/ C) government has made a remarkable turnaround in the housing sector. Starting from the regularisation of squatting area ghettoes, the allocation of cheap lots with drainage, water and electricity followed – in that order.
After all, even God took seven days to create a home for mankind! But in the last couple of years, the government has ratcheted up its aspirations and performance in housing to unbelievable levels, considering from whence it began. It plunged into partnerships with developers to offer cheap but comfortable houses – first for the lower income earners, then middle incomers, and finally, earlier this year – “young professionals”. To facilitate all this activity, banks were offered incentives by the government – in tandem with international financial institutions – to give mortgages at historic low rates.
One interesting innovation that earned accolades is the annual housing expo that became internationalised this year. In addition, to allowing developers and hardware suppliers to showcase their wares, it helped to educate house buyers as to what was available and possible. But this year, was special for another reason: the proposal for a housing area in our “hilly sand and clay belt” – Silica City.
For years, we’ve been warned that our “below the sea level” coast is threatened by rising seas due to global warming. The solution didn’t need rocket science thinking: move to higher ground. The problem was: who would bell the cat, so to speak. Well, following the lead of a private developer at Madewini, the government-sponsored Silica City on the Linden highway will lead the way to the higher ground. Hats off to the government! …
…in climate mitigation
But while the government is performing yeoman service to begin the process of moving our population out of the oncoming “harm’s way”, it must be recognised that it will it be a Herculean task for a struggling country to accomplish. Huge funding needs will have to be satisfied to make such a venture viable.
And we’re not just talking about the infrastructural needs for the settlement. We’re talking about the need to generate employment opportunities for those pioneers who will make the trek to Silica City. The settlements at Linden showed us that unless people have jobs, inland settlements will remain a chimera.
Fortunately for us there’s hope. The United Nations (UN) already has established a climate mitigation scheme that we should be able to tap into. There should be a comprehensive plan drafted for Silica City to make it into a self-sustaining community and this should be the basis of Guyana applying for funds from the UN facility.
Our own former President Bharrat Jagdeo offers another route to funding.
… by Commonwealth
He’s now head of a Commonwealth Expert Group on Climate Finance, which met last week to identify solutions for unlocking resources to enable small, poor and climate- vulnerable Commonwealth countries to combat climate change. He specifically mentioned the need “to identify financing at a scale that matches the problem” and to deploy such funds.
All Guyana should root for him to succeed in his enlightened advocacy.