Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo told Guyanese, yesterday, that the Government is not only building housing schemes but is committed to building communities.
His disclosure was made at the opening ceremony of the Housing Solutions 2017 and Beyond Exposition held at the Perseverance Housing Scheme located on the East Bank of Demerara. Ministers of Government, Members of the Diplomatic Corp and hundreds of Guyanese attended the exposition.
The Prime Minister noted that housing is a necessity and has been recognized in Guyana and elsewhere for hundreds of years, and under previous administrations the promise for housing has always been prominent. “It has been said that this natural obsession could never be lost sight of, the basic right to housing should always be prominent on the agenda,” he enforced.
He commended the organisers of the exposition, for showing Guyana that the government has not lost the dream, “we can house all our people and here today we have made Perseverance a model community, we are not only building housing schemes, we are building communities.”
Ronald Bulkan, Minister of Communities, explained that since 1966 the need for housing seems to be constant and previous models of housing have been proven to be unsustainable bringing occupancy to a low 20% across 38 schemes. This initiative, Minister Bulkan noted is one of the approaches aimed at providing adequate, affordable and modern housing accommodation within communities as envisioned by the Government. “We also see it as an opportunity to sensitize and involve the population in the development and implementation of housing solutions that this Government would like to make available to low income, state employees and youths”, he related while further explaining that it is also the aim of the Government to utilize local materials and create employment for Guyanese.
Cabinet, the Minister alluded has approved the construction of 758 units across 6 Regions. He gave the assurance that Government is commented to providing affordable and accessible housing for all.
Housing Solutions 2017 and Beyond features full scale models of the Government’s housing solutions, Minister within the Ministry of Communities with the responsibility of the Department of Housing, Valerie Adams-Patterson explained. These units were constructed within a designed Model Village in Perseverance Housing Scheme, where the exhibition will give impetus to the trajectory of the construction of housing options to be implemented during the programme.
The impact of this exhibition, she noted, will result in an increase in occupancy of vacant lots in existing housing schemes, and will serve to reduce the pending applications in the system as persons are given opportunity to view and inspect the types of houses to be built by Government in six regions.
Minister Adams-Patterson related that the housing units constructed will be sold at the end of the exhibition to interested persons who are eligible, based on prescribed criteria.