Housing backlog in Region Ten as of Dec. 2024 will be cleared this year – Croal

The Ministry of Housing and Water is allocating 1,000 house lots to residents of Region Ten today and subject Minister Collin Croal has assured that the remaining applicants in the system as at the end of 2024 will receive their lots before December 31, 2025.

Today’s recipients are being allocated lots in Phase Two of the Wismar Housing Scheme during the third edition of the ‘Dream Realised Housing Drive’ hosted by the Ministry at the Watooka Guest House in Linden.

According to Minister Croal, there are currently 2,553 outstanding applicants in the region and the Wismar Phase Two Housing Scheme already caters for 2,400 lots.

“As committed…the pending applicants will be able to be cleared in this current year of 2025 for all pending applicants for December 2024 and prior,” he said.

In fact, he said this feat should be achieved for all regions across the country with the exception of Region Four, because of the high volume of applicants in the system.

Meanwhile, Minister Croal noted that the time between allocation of the lands and occupation has significantly reduced. Therefore, persons who were allotted lands in the first Phase of the Wismar Housing Scheme will be able to access their lands by the end of this year while current allottees will be able to access their lands in early 2026.

“When you ask where our resources are going since we’re earning more, this is what it is going to. It is allowing us to do more today, not tomorrow because historically when you get your land, the infrastructure work doesn’t start until the next year because the budgetary request from the following year [is used] so it is a minimum of two years,” he explained.

The Minister pointed out that the Government has allocated over 1800 lots in the region in under four years. He said $5.9 billion was spent on housing development in the region.

Despite this investment, he added that the cost of the plots have not increased with the low income lots available for as low as $226,000 in the Wismar Housing Scheme.

He reminded that the former Government with former Minister Annette Ferguson responsible for the Housing Sector failed to deliver house lots to the residents of the region.

“You had a Minister who had responsibility for housing who was from Region Ten and they didn’t do what was committed to the people so it is important to remember some of these people who will be coming and making a lot of noise,” Croal emphasised, noting that prior to 2020, for five years, there were only 435 allocations.

Meanwhile, according to Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water Susan Rodrigues, the housing scheme provides spaces for low, moderate, middle, high income lots as well as spaces for a nursery and primary schools, a cemetery and zones for industrial and commercial plots.

She urged those who are still awaiting calls from the Ministry to be patient. “Today after we have distributed the first 1,000 house lots, I don’t want people to panic if they don’t get their house lots today. We have made more land available and we will be returning because this housing programme will not end,” she committed.

She assured that the Government will continue to serve every region equally.

“We have been working, we’ve stayed true to our commitment and we’ve been providing real tangible results and we’ve taken this programme all across the country – there is no favouritism, there is no region that has benefitted disproportionately to other regions,” Rodrigues said.

Regularisation

In addition to the distribution of house lots, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) will be distributing 97 titles to residents of Region Ten.

Minister Croal disclosed that over 600 lots are to be regularised in the region in ten areas. These were lands owned by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).

“When you have that document/title, it signals [what] you have achieved and attained and similarly, it secures for your children, their security of tenure…when we talk about generation wealth, we mean it, it is not idle gyaff,” he told the residents.

According to the Minister, NICIL is currently working on a number of areas in the region including Plantation Retrieve, Plantation Richmond Hill, Plantation Fairs Rust and others.

Cement and Steel programme

Minister Croal disclosed that under the Government’s Cement and Steel subsidy programme, over $48.5 million has been disbursed in Region Ten. This caters for 194 vouchers.

“Today you have eligible another 42 people who will be receiving the voucher for the programme; we’re talking another $9.5M subsidy to help persons to start their construction,” he disclosed, assuring allottees that they will be able to apply for the funding.

On Thursday, the Ministry had also announced that it has invested $1.4 billion into the new Kwakwani Housing Development in Region Ten. The sum covers infrastructure works scheduled for completion by November 2025, paving the way for landowners to begin individual lot identification and construction.