Georgetown : Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali responded to Alliance For Change’s Khemraj Ramjattan with regards to the $4B that was used to purchase lands from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) for housing development. He also lamented the sensationalising of the issue by certain sections of the media.
He said that, “they have these sensationalised headlines but the body of the story says nothing as to where the Minister would have erred or what is the issue relating to the headline.”
The Minister noted that today’s Kaieteur News quoted Ramjattan questioning where the houselots for which the $4B was invested were.
He explained that land, which could be acquired by the State, private entities or through a public/private partnership, is extremely important in the development of house lots. He explained that the Ministry’s database showed a high demand for houselots in Region Four and as a result it was necessary to acquire such land to make the lots available to citizens. To this end, Government invested the $4B that was sought in early 2010 to acquire in excess of 2000 acres of land from GUYSUCO.
The Ministry has 1000 serviced houselots completed in Eccles, close to 700 in Herstelling and is working on a further 1500 moderate-income lots at Providence; while the design for a further 1000 lots at Herstelling has been recently completed. This he said has been realised as a result of the $4B investment.
Minister Ali maintained that this transaction has, by no measure, been kept a secret from the public; as media operatives have, on several occasions, been informed and invited to witness these developments.
