SUCH A BIG COUNTRY…
Guyana has the tenth lowest population density of all the countries in the world. And when it comes to small countries – those with a land mass of under 100,000 square miles – Guyana is third only to Iceland and Suriname in terms of low population density.
You would have expected that with such a small population – less than 750,000 – spread over 83,000 square miles that land would be dog cheap in Guyana. After all, land is not scarce at all; there is plenty of land.
But no! Land is one of the most expensive immovable properties in Guyana today.
A group in Lamaha Gardens who have been protesting the sale of a playground in their area to a private individual are now contending that the original sale price was some $179M short, since 22,000 square feet was not catered for in the original sale price. Now, if 22,000 square feet is being assessed at $179M it means that we are speaking about a cost per square foot of G$8,000.
This would mean that for a normal house lot in that residential area measuring some 6000 square (120’ x 50&rsquo
, the assessed valuation at $8000 per square foot would be some 48 million dollars. Is this the value of the land alone in Lamaha Gardens? Is that the basis of the assessment of property owners in that area for tax and property valuation purposes?
Even considering that the area in populated by Guyana’s middle class, to actually believe that for a country ranked as having the tenth lowest population density in the world, land would fetch such an enormous sum is mind-boggling. It also begs a question: Why is land so expensive in Guyana?
Why it is that with so much land in this country, land is so costly? Even considering that investments have to be made in infrastructure, the cost of land is prohibitive.
And the price is being kept high, because this benefits the propertied class. Even state land is now fetching a high price. This is a most sickening development in the country and one that calls into question how such a phenomenon could have developed under working class governments.
There is massive land speculation going on in Guyana. The middle and upper classes in Guyana are awash with money. Don’t ask me where they got it. I do not know. They are investing this money in land and are keeping prices high, because this is how they are profiteering. They are not placing their funds into the banks, given the low interest rates. They are investing it in land. As such land has now become an economic commodity with little consideration for its social value to alleviate poverty.
Land prices are now out of the reach of the poor. It is a most worrying development.
But it is not only land that is expensive. The cost of construction is also prohibitive. And it seems that when the government is building anything the price soars through the roof. Schools today are being built to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. A school can cost as much as four hundred and fifty million dollars. This newspaper has done a number of pieces highlighting the high cost of construction of buildings.
But do these structures need to cost so much money? Can’t they be built at a cheaper cost without compromising on quality?
Just recently it was announced that a religious organization has constructed an impressive homestead to the tune of 82 million dollars. Now this is quite a massive structure. And it cost the organization less than one hundred million dollars.
A picture of the structure was shown in this week’s newspapers and from the look of things, it is about the size of some of those schools that are said to have cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Construction costs are going through the roof in Guyana. Instead of the Ministry of Housing working to significantly bring down prices for homeowners, they are actually giving away large amounts of land, state land, to private developers. The high prices being charged by these developers are forcing up the costs of real estate, so much so that the cost of a playfield is being assessed by a group at $8,000 per square foot.
