President Dr Irfaan Ali says his Government wants Guyanese to be the prime beneficiaries of land allocations; including for commercial, industrial or residential purposes.
And this is a policy he says will evolve over the coming year. He was at the time speaking during the recently-held Diaspora Conference.
“Take Trinidad and Tobago, for example; outside investors cannot own the land, they either have to lease the land or rent to the land; lease a building or rent a building. Land can only be owned by citizens,” the Head of State explained.
“That is not the case in Guyana but as we move forward, it has to be a flexible policy looking at demand, looking at the future and ensuring that Guyanese are the prime beneficiaries of the land,” he posited.
“And I am speaking very frankly, that is an important part of local content. The simple things like rental of apartments and buildings, those should be left for the investment of Guyanese,” President Ali said.
It was further explained that land prices in some cases will be market driven, while in other cases will be subsidised.
In fact, the President noted that it is the government’s policy to use funds from the market-driven land, to compensate for subsidising land.
This means that land in high demand areas will be as close as possible to market price. However, low- and middle-income housing will be subsidised.
