A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been inked between the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) and South Atlantic Logistics and General Services for the construction of 200 homes at Leonora, West Coast Demerara.
The agreement was signed on Friday between Chief Executive Officer of the CHPA, Sherwyn Greaves, and Founder of New Century International, Alex De La Cruz, on the sidelines of the International Building Expo, which is ongoing at the Guyana National Stadium tarmac at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Each home will measure 862 square feet, which is 62 square feet more than the other three-bedroom homes being constructed under the National Housing Programme. However, the homes will remain at the same cost of $9 million.
Moreover, each unit would be constructed on approximately 5,000 square feet of land, using interlocking columns and blocks, and without the use of mortar. The columns would also form part of the foundation of the homes.
Among those present were Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal; Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues; US Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch; Senior Commercial Officer at the US Guyana Embassy’s Department of Commerce, Daniel Gaines; New Century International Vice President David Bishop, among other officials.
During its term in office thus far, Government has delivered over 6000 house lots to applicants in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara).
While the Ministry is making a dent in the existing backlog it met after assuming office in 2020, the number of backlog cases continues to rise. An evaluation of the pending applications for Region Three one year ago stood at about 14,000. A few months ago, there were just over 13,000 pending applications.
As the infrastructural landscape of Region Three changes rapidly with more roads and highways being built, new homes would be constructed in the backlands of communities such as Uitvlugt, Stewartville, Anna Catherina, Cornelia Ida, Leonora, Meten-Meer-Zorg and Tuschen.
Among the road works being undertaken in Region Three is the Schoonord to Crane four-lane highway. This $11.8 billion road project is being undertaken by eight companies, and is expected to be completed by October. However, during a site visit last month, President Ali had to admonish the contractors, since all of them were behind in the execution of the project.
Eventually, that highway will be further expanded from Crane all the way to Parika. Moreover, the gas-to-shore project would see the construction of a new road from the West Demerara foreshore all the way to Wales, West Bank Demerara.
Simultaneously, the Dream Realised Allocation Exercise at Building Expo 2023 also kickstarted on a good note on Friday. In two days, close to 2000 families from all income brackets would leave the Guyana National Stadium at Providence having completed the first stage to homeownership.
The Housing Ministry allocated some 1,200 lots to families in the Lusignan, Good Hope and Two Friends Housing Schemes within the low-, moderate- and middle-income brackets. Today, the Dream Realised activity will continue with allocations for Region Three.
