Parfait Harmonie scheme to become second to none – Minister Ali

West Bank Demerara – Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali met with residents of Parfait Harmonie, Region three, in a series of community interventions and contract signing ceremonies for infrastructural improvements in new housing communities around the country that the Ministry has planned. Minister Ali unveiled a $130M programme for road upgrade in Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara.

The two contracts for road works at Parfait Harmonie are valued at about $70.8M and are being undertaken by Eagle Transportation and General Construction Incorporated and Courtney Benn Contracting Services Limited. 
           
He noted that assurance was given that these issues will be addressed in the 2011 budget and this was done, and as it relates to the water situation government has already delivered on this and a new well has been completed at a cost of more than $70M. 
“Parfait Harmonie will become a scheme second to none….today we had a meeting with a number of private companies including Courts, a number of the Banks; all of them came in to discuss with us the future plans of their expansion into Parfait Harmonie,” the Minister stated.
He informed the residents that this will be done at the National Democratic Council (NDC) level and government has already made the requisite arrangements for this process to be employed. 
Minister Ali told the residents that his Ministry is aware of their concerns as it relates to building contractors fleecing home builders, and will be taking steps to address this issue. He noted that because of the boom in construction these contractors are finding it very easy to find work, and in some instances, as reported to the Ministry, are compromising on quality.
Since 2000, more than $4.5B has been expended in Parfait Harmonie towards housing development, benefiting 6,600 households which is equivalent to 27,200 individuals.                   
This year, $800M will be spent on developing the scheme.