Some $10 million worth of steel and cement subsidies were on Wednesday distributed to 130 residents of Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) as they prepared to construct their homes.
Of the 130 vouchers distributed on Wednesday, 90 were handed over at the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) while the others were distributed at Bush Lot Farm, Wellington Park and Eversham.
During the event, Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal explained that the government has a mandate to assist citizens in becoming homeowners.
The steel and cement initiative is undertaken by President Dr Irfaan Ali and according to Croal, the PPP intends to have persons commence constructing their houses.
“When you go around in many communities, you see vacant lots; in our new housing schemes we allocate and then persons have not built and this is one way we are pushing the housing initiative,” Croal explained.
To date, 1,144 persons have benefitted from the initiative with more than 270 from Region Six.
However, the PPP in its manifesto had promised to make available 10,000 house lots annually during its five years in office. But Minister Croal said the steel and cement subsidy initiative and the construction of houses were late addition for the PPP.
Some 200 houses have been constructed in the Region since 2020. According to Croal, the government injected $11.3 billion for the construction of houses in the region.
“That means the creation of employment, purchase of materials for the construction and spin-off benefits for persons in the transportation sector and for those selling refreshments in areas where the houses are being built. Our net venture moves to Palmyra where we will be commencing the construction of houses for young professionals.”
At Palmyra, $1.2 billion is being spent on infrastructure development. However, at the regional level, the Housing Ministry has spent $25.4 billion on infrastructure development since taking office in 2020.
Of that figure, $14 billion was spent to open up new housing schemes at Number 75, 76 and 79 Villages as well as at Hampshire, Ordinance and Palmyra.
Meanwhile, Coral stated that about 5000 pending applications for house lots for Region Six are being addressed while adding that the high demand for agricultural land has affected sourcing land for housing development in the region.
