A Single mother, Shawnella Johnson was among the 500 families who received a house lot at Onderneeming Housing Scheme Phase IV extension, Region Two, taking them one step closer to becoming homeowners.
The lots allocated fall under the low, moderate and middle-income categories.
All the allottees will have access to their lots this year at the housing area.
The activity was led by Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal at the regional housing office on Saturday, at Takuba Lodge Compound in Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast.
Johnson, who applied for a house lot about four years ago, was beyond elated when she received the call for the lot a few days ago.
She said, “I was pretty excited about it. I am a single mother of two so it’s a great achievement for me to own my own house lot.
The young mother who resides with her mother added that she plans to start constructing her house as soon as possible.
After waiting for his land for a number of years, Karran Kanhai can now move ahead with building a home for his kid.
A delighted Kanhai said, “They called me [for the house lot] and right now, I feel glad. I don’t really have anywhere to go. I am renting a house.”
After receiving their lots, siblings Samuel Doliveria and Indira Doliveria said that this is a proud moment for them.
Samuel expressed, “I have three children. I am glad for the land since I can now move out and start building my own house.”
Indira, who had always wanted a house of her own, said, “I was living with my in-laws. I always wanted to own [a piece of] land for myself. In the future, I plan to get married and so on. So, I would like to be a proud house owner.”
Alvin Soamandaugh applied for a house lot in 2019.
“A few days ago this week I received the call and I was very excited. I didn’t realise I would’ve gotten through so quickly…From since a young age, I always wanted to be a homeowner. It was something that I have always looked forward to,” Soamandaugh stated.
Minister Croal underscored that close to $250 billion has been invested in the housing sector within the last four and half years.
The government has exhausted $1.9 billion to develop two housing areas in Region Two.
The ministry has expended about $700 million for infrastructure work at Onderneeming housing area to date.
Since 2020, $1.2 billion has been invested at Buxton St Joseph or Charity housing area.
“[On Thursday], we received the approval for the no objection for a portion in Onderneeming at Tracks A and B that will see an injection of another $1.45 billion, which will bring into fruition $3.3 billion investment on the housing programme,” he disclosed.
Some 791 lots have been distributed to Essequibo families so far.
Today’s house-lot distribution will aid in the reduction of the region’s backlog.
The ministry has been engaging the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission and Guyana Sugar Corporation to acquire more lands to fulfil its manifesto’s promises of distributing 50,000-lot in 2025.
Since 2020, over 41,000 house lots have been distributed to Guyanese families across the country, with plans to allocate approximately 25,000 lots by July.
This ambitious approach will see the ministry surpassing its manifesto’s promises by at least 14,000 lots.
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