Housing and You… The new schemes: A chicken and egg situation

Oct 13, 2013 News

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Last week we spoke on the issue of gated communities and I did promise to attempt to get one of the major developers to shed some light on this addition to the housing boom. The newspaper would have done an interview and we are carrying that piece separately, based on what we learnt from Windsor Estates.
Kaieteur News had some hard questions for Windsor Estates, a US-owned initiative that is currently building a gated community behind the Republic Park area.
I hope it will answer some of the questions being asked. Windsor is saying that more than 30% of lots have already been snapped up. However, I want to return to this in more detail later.
We have also been receiving complaints about the long time it takes for critical infrastructure to be put in place. Things like water, roads, electricity and even phone lines.
I remember Diamond over a decade ago. There was a little track and canefields. We used a dam behind Grove to get to a place called “Achie Duck”…where we use to swim after sneaking out from home. I never could have imagined that in 2013, the area would evolve into one of the largest housing schemes in the country that is proving a logistical nightmare for Government.
Initially, nobody wanted to live there. There was skepticism that it could become a place to live. A few years later, I had to stay with a close family member after he built his home almost to the back of the scheme. There were roads built, but lots of empty lots were evident with side streets unpaved. It was 2005.
There was no electricity and a water main that came all the way from the one in Grove provided water, but at a low pressure.
We were fortunate to have had an inverter system that provided some lights and worked on two large batteries.
Not many families were that fortunate. Those batteries had to be lugged every few days to the home of an enterprising businessman one mile away who provided charging services.
Today, there are phone lines, a well, a fire station, several Chinese restaurants and even a call centre and a Busta drink warehouse.
Many of the homeowners knew of the difficulty they would have faced in moving in initially. Taxis were refusing to traverse some of the unpaved side streets. There were numerous reports of break-ins and robberies. But the homeowners were more than happy to have a roof over their heads.
Looking back, one could not help but wonder if the homeowners had waited until all the infrastructure was in place to move in, what would have happened.
House lots and homes in Diamond and its neighbouring new Golden Grove housing scheme are selling for millions and people are buying. I know of one man buying a mere structure at a corner lot in Golden Grove for $9M. Some very beautiful homes have been built in the area.
Housing schemes on the whole cost hundreds of millions to create. In addition to preparing the lands for house lots, there are a host of preparatory works that have to be done before it even reaches the stage of being ready for allocation to qualified applicants.
The last things on the list are power lines and phones.
I have been living in La Parfaite Harmonie for the past two years and waiting for when an announcement would be made that we would have phones lines so I can apply for the DSL internet connection. I am forced to use a wireless that limits me.
Every so often, Government has been issuing contracts for roads, bridges and drains to be done in certain new housing schemes. From talks with the housing ministry, the staffers there are struggling to meet demands. Preparing the designs, contract documents, going to tender and awarding the contracts all take time, they say.
GPL is now complaining it does not have the wallaba poles for its expansion. I am not sure what is happening to the telephone company.
The Housing Ministry, in what it says is an effort to encourage faster occupation of the land allotted for housing, has taken a policy of only paving roads when there is 75% occupancy rate of a particular street. The argument for this is that resources are limited.
So the issue comes up whether a homeowner allotted a piece of land should start building and move in. In my situation, almost three years ago, I took a mortgage, and was renting while the building was under construction.
It was unthinkable to continue paying a rent while the home was completed. I just could not afford it as the mortgage payments would have been due.
The day we moved in – the tiling was not completed- was the day that the rent would have been due.
I had to make a conscious choice. Should I have waited until the roads are paved? The power was already there. The water was hooked up. I could not wait.
So what happens in the newer housing schemes? I am aware that a few persons, without any paved roads, power and water, are already living on the land. A chicken and egg scenario. What comes first?
I believe that the circumstances of the individual would dictate what happens. My hat is off to the family who moves in with no neighbours in sight; no shops nearby and no utilities. Imagine leaving your home in the middle of the housing scheme, and it is the only one, and going to work?
I would continue to wish for the day when Government would be in a position to have housing schemes fully completed without a homeowner having to worry about when the roads will be paved or when water and light will be made available.
Enjoy your weekend and don’t forget to drop your comments as usual to [email protected]

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