CH&PA $50B revamped housing programme “backward, nonsensical” – Ali
Following the announcement by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) that there will be the construction of close to 10,000 housing units under a revamped low-income housing drive with apartment and duplex housing units, former Housing Minister Irfaan Ali has deemed this move as “backward and nonsensical”.
![ali](http://guyanatimesgy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Ali-1024x955.jpg)
The Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) recently told this publication that the decision was conceptualised without the requisite analysis.
“You can’t move into an apartment concept without expert analysis and understanding the housing market, without an understanding on the needs of the people [or] the structure of the market,” Ali noted.
He stated that under his watch, there were “experiments with various models” all aimed at developing sustainable housing. Ali claimed that from analysis conducted in the past, “Guyanese were not willing to move towards apartment units.”
“What is the bank going to hold as collateral, did the ministry work out a level of financing with the bank… the concept does not take into consideration the concept of equity value. When you develop a land that is sold for $500,000 and you put in infrastructure, immediately that parcel goes up to $6-$7 million; how are they going to build these units in [areas] where you have mixed forms of housing – gated, middle, low income,” the former Housing Minister queried.
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