500 more lots allocated - Minister Ali fulfils houselot promise to fire victims
Georgetown, GINA, October 11, 2011
Source - GINA
Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali addressing houselot allottees at a One Stop Shop for Recht-Door-Zee Housing Scheme
The Housing Ministry today processed 500 house lots for the Recht-Door-Zee Housing Scheme, Region Three at a One Stop Shop exercise at the Hugh Anderson Sports Complex, Pouderoyen. Seventy two families from several squatting areas had their houselot applications processed along with the victims of two separate fires.
Approximately 740 lots are being developed in the Recht-Door-Zee Phase 2 Housing Scheme, with 200 of these lots identified for a special pilot being implemented under the Government of Guyana, Inter-American Development Bank Second Low Income Settlement (LIS) Programme that will see nurses, policemen and teachers being allocated lots for the construction of their home.
Fire victims
Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali, after the fires at Lombard and Broad Streets and High and Barrack Streets, had visited the scene and met with the victims. At that time he had indicated that the housing ministry would have expedited house lot applications for those affected.
True to his word, they were granted houselots at the One Stop Shop today.
Houselots for squatters
Similarly, the housing ministry, in an effort to have squatters removed from government reserves and to pave the way for much needed development works had promised to speed up squatters’ applications.
The squatters are from West and East Ruimveldt Front Road, Plastic City, Vreed-en-Hoop, Turkeyen/Sophia, and Herstelling Sea Dam.
Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali facilitating the child of an allottee to pull the number of her house lot
Speaking specifically of allocation of lots to the squatters, Minister Ali said, ‘It’s part of the ministry’s and the Government’s process of uplifting the Guyanese public and more critically, to ensure that each person is empowered, so as to contribute to the continuous development of the country.
Minister Ali said that by investing in a home, each allottee was contributing to the economic growth and development of the country as ‘building a house has tremendous trickle down economic benefit for the wider society and this is why the Government has committed to the task of ensuring that the housing requirements of Guyanese are met.
Heavy investment and subsidy
Government is investing approximately $340M in the development of the Recht-Door-Zee Scheme and by the end of today’s One Stop Shop, the ministry would have only collected $74M, heavily subsidising the cost for the lots by $286M, Minister Ali said.
In Region Three, alone, the Ministry of Housing and Water during the period 2000 - 2010 invested approximately $12B in housing, creating over 20,000 house lots and benefiting 85,000 people, he added.
Speaking of the economic and global food and environmental crises over the past five years, when many countries in the Caribbean had to cut social expenditure and borrow to pay their public servants, Minister Ali said, “In Guyana we must count ourselves lucky…that not only was our economy resilient to withstand these pressures but we were able to grow in the first half of this year…today we can note a positive correlation between the economic growth and development.”
Persons at the One Stop Shop exercise
It is for this reason, that Government has been able to consistently invest in key and critical areas, like housing, he said, that offers opportunity for development and integration.
“Government is trying to bring a development mix, that will not only showcase the cultural diversity of the country, but that will seek to break barriers and break down social dimension based on differences in profession, education and financial status,” Ali said.
Rules governing construction
The allottees were warned of the penalties that the ministry has included in the sale of agreement with regards to rules governing the construction and maintenance of the lots.
Allottees were advised that with regards to the construction of their property, they are not to have construction materials on the roads of the scheme for more than 24 hours. Failure to remove these materials will result in a fine of $20,000 per day, the Minister said.
Persons, who intentionally submit false information in order to secure more than one house lot, will have their lots repossessed and as well their money not returned, Minister Ali said.
Allottees were also advised of their obligation to upkeep their lots.
Recht-Door-Zee also been earmarked for the construction of Core Homes, another pilot under the Second LIS Programme. Application forms were distributed at today’s exercise to allottees interested in being recipients of this core home project.
This is the twelfth One Stop Shop exercise for the year. In three recent separate exercises, the housing ministry, distributed over 800 houselots under its One Stop Project, with 500 given out at Uitvlugt and 348 in Lusignan where the housing ministry twice took the One Stop Shop service. The latter two were for Good Hope and Mon Repos and Good Hope South.
Georgetown, GINA, October 11, 2011
Source - GINA
Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali addressing houselot allottees at a One Stop Shop for Recht-Door-Zee Housing SchemeThe Housing Ministry today processed 500 house lots for the Recht-Door-Zee Housing Scheme, Region Three at a One Stop Shop exercise at the Hugh Anderson Sports Complex, Pouderoyen. Seventy two families from several squatting areas had their houselot applications processed along with the victims of two separate fires.
Approximately 740 lots are being developed in the Recht-Door-Zee Phase 2 Housing Scheme, with 200 of these lots identified for a special pilot being implemented under the Government of Guyana, Inter-American Development Bank Second Low Income Settlement (LIS) Programme that will see nurses, policemen and teachers being allocated lots for the construction of their home.
Fire victims
Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali, after the fires at Lombard and Broad Streets and High and Barrack Streets, had visited the scene and met with the victims. At that time he had indicated that the housing ministry would have expedited house lot applications for those affected.
True to his word, they were granted houselots at the One Stop Shop today.
Houselots for squatters
Similarly, the housing ministry, in an effort to have squatters removed from government reserves and to pave the way for much needed development works had promised to speed up squatters’ applications.
The squatters are from West and East Ruimveldt Front Road, Plastic City, Vreed-en-Hoop, Turkeyen/Sophia, and Herstelling Sea Dam.
Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali facilitating the child of an allottee to pull the number of her house lotSpeaking specifically of allocation of lots to the squatters, Minister Ali said, ‘It’s part of the ministry’s and the Government’s process of uplifting the Guyanese public and more critically, to ensure that each person is empowered, so as to contribute to the continuous development of the country.
Minister Ali said that by investing in a home, each allottee was contributing to the economic growth and development of the country as ‘building a house has tremendous trickle down economic benefit for the wider society and this is why the Government has committed to the task of ensuring that the housing requirements of Guyanese are met.
Heavy investment and subsidy
Government is investing approximately $340M in the development of the Recht-Door-Zee Scheme and by the end of today’s One Stop Shop, the ministry would have only collected $74M, heavily subsidising the cost for the lots by $286M, Minister Ali said.
In Region Three, alone, the Ministry of Housing and Water during the period 2000 - 2010 invested approximately $12B in housing, creating over 20,000 house lots and benefiting 85,000 people, he added.
Speaking of the economic and global food and environmental crises over the past five years, when many countries in the Caribbean had to cut social expenditure and borrow to pay their public servants, Minister Ali said, “In Guyana we must count ourselves lucky…that not only was our economy resilient to withstand these pressures but we were able to grow in the first half of this year…today we can note a positive correlation between the economic growth and development.”
Persons at the One Stop Shop exerciseIt is for this reason, that Government has been able to consistently invest in key and critical areas, like housing, he said, that offers opportunity for development and integration.
“Government is trying to bring a development mix, that will not only showcase the cultural diversity of the country, but that will seek to break barriers and break down social dimension based on differences in profession, education and financial status,” Ali said.
Rules governing construction
The allottees were warned of the penalties that the ministry has included in the sale of agreement with regards to rules governing the construction and maintenance of the lots.
Allottees were advised that with regards to the construction of their property, they are not to have construction materials on the roads of the scheme for more than 24 hours. Failure to remove these materials will result in a fine of $20,000 per day, the Minister said.
Persons, who intentionally submit false information in order to secure more than one house lot, will have their lots repossessed and as well their money not returned, Minister Ali said.
Allottees were also advised of their obligation to upkeep their lots.
Recht-Door-Zee also been earmarked for the construction of Core Homes, another pilot under the Second LIS Programme. Application forms were distributed at today’s exercise to allottees interested in being recipients of this core home project.
This is the twelfth One Stop Shop exercise for the year. In three recent separate exercises, the housing ministry, distributed over 800 houselots under its One Stop Project, with 500 given out at Uitvlugt and 348 in Lusignan where the housing ministry twice took the One Stop Shop service. The latter two were for Good Hope and Mon Repos and Good Hope South.