‘Housing’ clearing applications backlog from 2003

guyana chronicle October 14, 2015

MINISTER within the Ministry of Communities Keith Scott, has indicated that the Housing Department of that ministry is in the process of clearing the backlog of houselot applications which, in some cases, date as far back as in 2003.The delay, he said, is one of the bugbears the current administration inherited from its predecessor, but is working assiduously to “clean up.”

“The process of hous lots distribution was always ongoing, but so far we are cleaning up the incompetence of the last government, and that is why we are looking into [the situation of)] persons who would have applied since 2003 and so on,” Minister Scott explained. This backlog, he said, should be completed soon.

Several persons were within the compound of the Housing Department last Wednesday, bitterly complaining of the sloth in getting approval for their houselots. Minister Scott said the process has been somewhat delayed because the department does not want to distribute houselots in a willy-nilly manner.

“We cannot pass hous lots to everyone like that; it is not about the numbers, but the quality,” the minister explained. He also said that untimely receipt of the 2015 budget allocation had contributed to the backlog.

Some 90 houselots have been distributed since the May 11 elections. With receipt of the $1.9B allocated to the sector, Scott said, the money would be used to enhance the system.

Over the next five years, the Housing Department intends to build approximately 4,000 houses in cohesive communities to benefit more than 4,000 households and approximately 16,000 persons.

(Shivanie Sugrim)