Latest update March 29th, 2025 5:38 AM
NICIL, GuySuCo, Lands and Surveys to help identify lands for housing
Kaieteur News – The National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL); Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (GuySuCo) and Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) are working with the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA)to help the department identify lands for new housing projects.
Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal
In an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI), Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal told reporters that the collaboration is part of government’s push to find new lands to allocate to thousands of Guyanese who have applied for houselots.
According to Minister Croal, several areas have already been identified for land acquisition in some regions with funds available from last month’s emergency budget.
Croal reminded that despite a system backlog, ”the government is working every single day to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place to commence new allocations for a number of regions.”
“Immediately, that will include Regions Three and Four while we acquire lands for some of the other regions including Region Two,” he added.
The Minister further assured that an aggressive allocation process would commence in the not too distant future.
“[In] 2021 you can look forward to a massive programme by our Ministry,” Minister Croal said while noting that land preparation in key areas will begin in the same year.
Additionally, the Ministry recently published an Expression of Interest (EOI) for a private-public partnership to construct housing units- this has received much traction from investors.
“That Expression of Interest, of course, is closed. In fact, they are finalising the evaluation and very shortly we will be shortlisting for those contractors whom our developers would be engaging for the construction of our initial first set of houses,” the Housing Minister said.
He noted that the initiative is set up to help stimulate the economy and foster employment in a range of sectors.
Croal said that the Government’s removal of taxes from construction materials will also make it easier for many citizens to become homeowners at a cheaper cost.
He noted that the raising of the low-income threshold for corporate tax relief from $8million to $10million and the reverting of the income tax relief ceiling from $15 million to $30 million will also complement the housing sector’s massive development in 2021 and the coming years.
Government has said that over 60,000 applications for house and lands are on file.
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