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28,220 Gov’t house lots unoccupied – Bulkan
Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, revealed yesterday that after A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC)’s acceded to office back in May 2015; it found an “overly ambitious” housing programme.
During 2011 and 2015, a total of 20,015 house lots were allocated but 16,273 remain unoccupied.
This programme, he said, sought to provide house lots to anyone desirous of acquiring one and latterly, the provision of turnkey units.
The Minister said that it was discovered that the execution of the programme saw many housing areas with a total of 66,124 lots being developed. However, to date, 28,220 lots or 45 percent of these lots were divested and are still unoccupied.
Bulkan explained that the situation was further exacerbated during the 2011 to 2015 period where, of the 38 housing areas developed, it produced 20,015 lots of which 16,273 of these remain unoccupied, representing more than 80 percent.
The Minister said that when this scenario takes account of a projected $60 billion that is needed to complete the 38 housing and regularized squatting areas that were under intervention during the last 20 years, it shows that this approach was unsustainable.
The Administration has recognized that the model adopted was not working. It was more or less just land divestment rather than seeking to improve quality of life, since the numerous housing areas are still plagued with incomplete and inadequate infrastructure and lack of the necessary social facilities and services, Bulkan posited.
He added that in light of these challenges, households were burdened with the prospect of accessing financing and the challenges associated with undertaking their own construction.
This model was definitely not aiming for the good life, the Minister said, adding that after considering these “facts”, the Administration recently conceptualized a new model to improve the housing delivery system to address the backlog of 25,000 applicants, particularly the 17,851 who can be classified as low income households.
A release from the Ministry of Communities yesterday stated that this new model seeks to move beyond the provision of serviced lots to create livable and wholesome communities through the provision of full infrastructure; the necessary social facilities and services and the supply of housing units. The new model will also address the issue of reduction in infrastructure cost, since it seeks to increase density.
Kaieteur News reported a few days ago, that for the year 2016, a total of 2,015 house lots were allocated. This achievement is more than 100 percent of the annual target of 1000 allocations. Also, 221 regularized squatters received allocation letters of the target of 400.
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