EP Enterprise Exposes the Consequences of “Allocation Without Infrastructure”

Dec 03, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

A visit to the EP Enterprise housing development on the East Coast of Demerara on November 29, 2025, revealed a deeply troubling reality: hundreds of Guyanese families have been allocated house lots, but not the basic conditions necessary for safe and dignified living.

Residents shared stories that should trouble the conscience of every policymaker in this country. Their experiences underscore a policy failure that can no longer be ignored: lots are being distributed without the infrastructure that transforms land into livable communities.

At EP Enterprise, there are no formal roads, only a long, muddy dams. There is no running water; residents must pay between $8,000 and $15,000 per truckload for water that is “not even clean,” plus an additional $5,000 or more each month for bottled water. There is no electricity; GPL has not installed poles, and residents remain indefinitely on a waiting list. As a result, families are forced to build their own makeshift infrastructure – solar lights costing tens of thousands of dollars each, generators that consume up to $20,000 in fuel monthly, and expensive camera systems to compensate for the lack of security. These are not luxuries. They are the only way to survive in an unserviced housing scheme.

The absence of infrastructure has produced a parallel crisis: rampant crime. Residents spoke of repeated break-ins, some happening in broad daylight, others in the early hours of the morning, where thieves carried off generators, pumps, appliances, cement, windows, toilet sets, and the savings of hardworking families. A teacher trying to raise two children alone had her home broken into twice in one day. Another resident lost hundreds of thousands in materials and slipped into despair. Several families described hearing thieves in their yards at night and being terrified to leave home during the day. Despite the presence of a police outpost nearby, patrols are sporadic and largely reactive. In the words of one resident: “They only come when the crime already done.”

These conditions expose a national problem that requires urgent correction. A house-lot allocation is not the same as housing. When citizens are given land without roads, water, drainage, electricity, garbage management, or safety, they are not being empowered, they are being abandoned. We need a clear, enforceable policy: no new allocations should proceed unless basic infrastructure is in place. We also need transparent public reporting so that citizens can see, scheme by scheme, what has been allocated, what has been serviced, and what remains unfinished. And in communities like EP Enterprise, immediate intervention is required: clearing the overgrown bush, providing streetlights, installing water and electricity infrastructure, and deploying regular police patrols to protect families who are simply trying to build a better life.

Guyanese people deserve more than a paper allocation and political announcements. They deserve communities they can live in safely, raise their children, and dream of a better future. EP Enterprise is a reminder that development must be measured not by numbers handed out at press conferences, but by the lived reality of the people on the ground. I urge the relevant authorities to act with urgency. The families at EP Enterprise, and countless others across Guyana, cannot wait any longer.

Sincerely,
Sherod Duncan, M.P

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