After long wait 55 Hope Estate residents to soon get land titles/transport

55 residents of Plantation Hope Estate Scheme-Cum Annexes, East Coast Demerara, will soon
be receiving their titles or transport documents for lands they have been occupying for decades.
Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal, on Saturday led an outreach at the Hope Estate
Compound, to begin the land verification process. A team of technical personnel from the
Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) was at the location, assisting with the
verification of residents’ documents. Croal revealed that the issue was brought to his attention
during a recent visit to the area, where a number of residents vented their frustration of not
having legal documents for their lands.  Croal explained that based on the information he
received, the matter dates back since in the 1970s, and the lands are now being occupied by
children and grandchildren of the first sets of occupants.

The housing and water minister told the residents that the Government is committed to
addressing the issue by ensuring that the occupants of those lands are given their legal
documents so that they can move forward with plans they have to upgrade or construct their
homes. “Immediately once we can verify all the information provided in terms of the persons
who are occupying the lands, and once there are no contention of the house, we will process your
certificate of title, and as I said, we have about 55 houses in our system for which no title has
been processed for the lands,’ Croal said.
He pointed out that the land titling process will commence within the new week for those
properties with no challenges or dispute. Additionally, he noted that back then, the former
President Janet Jagan had promised some of the residents who were relocated to the area they
will only be charged 1$ for the processing of the titles. Minister Croal said that commitment will
be honoured for those persons, while the others will have to pay the usual fee of $92,000.
Further, there are a number of residents who received house lots from the CHPA within the area
and are still awaiting titles. The minister also committed to having those titles processed and
completed in a timely manner.   Further, Minister Croal announced that CHPA is in the final
stages of acquiring lands for allocation within the area this year.
A resident, Malinie Bhola, expressed her satisfaction with the process and is anxiously awaiting
her title, so that she will be able to benefit from the core home initiative being rolled out by the
CHPA. The thirty-two-year-old mother of five said she and her husband have been occupying
the land for the past 18 years and have been living under poor conditions with their children. She
said the document will allow her to provide a better home for her family. Meanwhile,
Rajkumarie Budhu showed up on behalf of her sixty-nine-year-old father, Parasram Budhu who
has been awaiting his document for decades. “We are happy that finally today, my father can get
his title and everything will go so good…I born and grow here and we even plant coconut and all
the stuff…we are very thankful,” Budhu said.
It was disclosed that the Hope Estate Scheme was originally a Sugar Plantation which was
bought by Mr. Walcott, a British investor who started coconut cultivation. In 1955, the Sankars
bought the area from Mr. Walcott and continued coconut cultivation. However, the Late Prime

Minister, Forbs Burnham then bought the area from the Sankars in the early 1970s and formed
the Hope Coconut Industry Ltd. The estate was managed by a Board until his death in 1985.
NEOCOL (National Edible Oil Company Ltd) then took over its management during the period
1987-1992.
It was further revealed that the government took over the area in 1992 and eventually phased out
the coconut cultivation. Portions of land were rented to private farmers for cultivation of cash
crops. Additionally, after the flooding in 2005, some 40 affected residents from Mahaica were
relocated to a portion of the area developed into a scheme with 88 lots. The Government & Food
For the Poor built houses for the affected persons. In 2009, the scheme was extended with a
further 270 lots.