Housing Ministry gets over $1.9B to build four lane highway

Dec 20, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The National Assembly, on Thursday, approved the sum of $7.7 billion for the Ministry of Housing and Water to execute infrastructural works in new and existing housing schemes, and the construction of the Eccles to Diamond four-lane highway.
Of the $7.7 billion, the sum of $2.7 billion will go towards infrastructural works in new areas; $2 billion for works in existing schemes; $1.9 billion for the Eccles to Diamond four-lane highway; and $521 million for survey works.

Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal

The supplementary funding was sought during the 33rd sitting of the 12th parliament at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) weeks after Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon is questioning the basis for which large sums of money was allocated by the Government to the Housing Ministry to construct roads.
During a press conference Harmon questioned the sum that would be allotted to the Minister of Housing to facilitate additional works for new housing areas and for the construction of the four lane highway. “What is the Ministry of Housing doing constructing four lane highways when in fact we have a Ministry of Public Works that is required to do the same thing? We have to really question this, to find whether they are really not double dipping in regard to these two agencies,” Harmon asserted.
His queries followed reports by Kaieteur News that the Central Housing and Planning Authority, an agency of the Ministry of Housing and Water, was looking for contractors to execute the construction of a brand new four-lane highway connecting Eccles and Great Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD).
However defending the sum was subject Minister, Collin Croal, who explained that infrastructural works will include land preparation, roads, bridges, drainage and water network in communities in Regions Three, Four, Five and Six.
The areas include; Plantation Stewartville, Mon Repos, Annandale, Vigilance, Bladen Hall, Strathspey, LBI, Plantation Cummings Lodge, Plantation Great Diamond, Plantation Little Diamond, Plantation Prospect Phase Three, Plantation Providence, Plantation Experiment, Williamsburg, Hampshire, Number 79 Village, Number 75 Village, Anna Catherina, Edingburg, Cornelia Ida and Meten-Meer-Zorg.
“We have ongoing works for contracts that exist, and so additional sums are required to ensure that we complete these works to make available accommodation for more land space so that we can have occupancy for over 10,000 lots,” Minister Croal clarified.
For the Eccles to Diamond four -lane road, Minister Croal further explained that the total amount that will be awarded will be $13.3 billion, and thus, a 15 per cent mobilisation advance was being sought. The surveys will be conducted in a number of housing schemes, and the four-lane road alignment is to be done as well.
The Minister’s explanation came in response to queries made by opposition Member of Parliament, Annette Ferguson who questioned the housing ministry’s effectiveness in executing those additional works, given that the year has almost come to an end.
In response, Minister Croal noted that, “the work of the Ministry of Housing and Water to improve the lives of our citizens do not stop at midnight. We have a competent project team that is capable of executing these projects and do them in a timely manner and that’s why we are able to do so much more in a fast-track mechanism, because we have a commitment to the people of Guyana to deliver a minimum of 50,000 house lots in this our first term in office.”
In fact, Croal highlighted that for infrastructural works in new areas alone the PPP/C Government has so far expended some $7.3billion. That process, he further noted is an ongoing one as the ministry completes infrastructural works in housing schemes. For instance, identification of lands has begun in Number 79, Number 75, Mon Repos, Little Diamond and great Diamond.