The Ministry of Housing and Water has allocated 10,791 house lots in 2024.
This was disclosed by Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal during a press conference on Friday where he noted that over the past four years, some 40,290 have been allocated.
This, he said, sets the government’s pace to surpass its 50,000 house lots target by the end of its first term.
Croal noted that these allocations do not take into consideration commercial allocations.
With commercial allocations, it would mean the Ministry has allocated some 11,000 lots over the past four years.
Majority of the allocations were done in Regions Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara).
For this year, Minister Croal said “we will allocate far more than 10,000 [house lots].”
He added that in the past four years, over 75 new housing areas were developed, 19 of which were done last year including in Wales, Good Hope, LBI, Lusignan, Enterprise, Palmyra, Ameila’s Ward, among others.
Meanwhile, the Housing Minister also responded to concerns about the time taken for allottees to be able to access the lots following allocation.
According to the Minister, the average cost to develop infrastructure per lot is $5 million, which covers the roads and utilities. However, he noted that the waiting time is being reduced from two years.
“For the very first time, we’re close on par with allocations and the infrastructure work being done in the areas…persons have said in the past they waited two years…Now we’re getting close to that level where the work is happening simultaneously as the area is going to be allocated,” he explained.
In 2024, the government invested $4.3 billion to construct residential houses for allocation. Though there have been complaints about the quality of works, Croal said the impact is still appreciated.
“[We’ve] seen some criticism on the quality of work done but it does not take away the impact from the construction of those houses,” he expressed.
As it relates to land titles, a total of 7,118 titles were processed in 2024. This is an increase of 113% from 2023, the Minister said. He noted that “to date, we have processed over 14,710 titles and that does not include the close to 2500 certificates of titles to process at the land registrar awaiting to be signed off.”
