Georgetown: The housing development along the East Bank of Demerara continues to move apace, with the Young Professional Scheme almost 50 % completed.
President Donald Ramotar and the Housing and Water Minister, Irfaan Ali recently visited the area to inspect the progress of ongoing works there.
This newest housing scheme will comprise of a semi-gated community within the wider Eccles Housing scheme in which 40, 1200 square-foot houses will be constructed.
According to Minister Ali, his Ministry is working to complete the scheme for professional groups by August 2013 in keeping with the drive to provide affordable housing to all Guyanese.
He said, “We are going to expand our partnership with young middle and low income young earners… young working persons …that is how we’re going to approach 2013.”
Alluding to the need for such a scheme, Ali noted that over the years, the Housing Ministry has received a large number of applications from young professionals including doctors, lawyers, engineers and bankers within the age group of 25-35 years.
“We have worked to create an affordable package for this target market. The total cost of this package will be just below $15M. In an area such as Eccles, the same house from a private developer will cost about $25M,” the Housing Minister explained.
Housing development on the East Bank commenced in late 2010, when Government announced its vision to create 30,000 new households.
In 2011, Government invested almost $2.3B on the East Bank and in 2012 an additional $3.5B was invested. This brings a total of a significant $5.8B on the East Bank alone.
This year, the government has proposed that $3.1 billion of its $208.8 billion budget be allocated to the housing sector, to continue the process of ensuring citizens have improved access to housing and a better quality of life.
Undoubtedly, Guyana is at a defining moment in its history when a large number of citizens are becoming home owners; partnerships with the financial institutions have seen more low income earners having access to low cost mortgages to purchase or construct their homes.
The distribution of 30,000 new houselots by 2015, a re-migrants’ housing scheme, the turnkey project and special programmes for young professionals and single persons are among some of the plans of the Housing Ministry for the next five years, all aimed at changing the social and physical landscape of the country.
The minister has assured that the thrust to provide 100 per cent access to housing goes well beyond the dimension of the economy and the owning of a house, and seeks to enhance self-esteem and family life.
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