| Seven months ago, a programme began with an objective to ensure that everybody is housed in cohesive and sustainable communities. During the period, May to December,wholesale jerseys, staff of the housing and water sector has been able to lay the ground work for the implementation of this new housing programme.“What we have done is aimed at and pursued creating a new concept in housing and by developing affordable houses at a much lower cost than existed in the past, and also we are trying to develop a community concept where we have people not seeing themselves as part of obtaining a house lot or a house, but being part of a cohesive community,Wholesale Jerseys,” Minister within the Ministry of Communities, with responsibility for Housing and Water, Keith Scott explaining the new housing concept.The implementation of the housing programme is part of the overall strategy of the new government of building cohesive and sustainable communities. Thus, the new Government is moving away from the previous approach of just delivering house lots.Apart from infrastructure development and the allocation of lots, the development of ‘affordable’ houses in planned housing schemes, engaging communities and gaining an understanding of their issues and involving them in developing solutions to address these issues, all play an equal part in the new approach to housing.Minister Scott, speaking on the issue of building cohesive communities, replied,NFL Jerseys Supply, “If you are to use a scale of one to 10 with ten being the highest…we can comfortably say we got 8 out of 10.”GWI CEO Dr. Richard Van West Charles (centre)and Senior Managers examining sectionsof the Mahdia water supply system.Minister Keith Scott (third from left) with other officialsat the Recht-Door-Zee housing developmentFor 2015, not only did the Ministry hand out 180 house lots and 290 titles, but it also worked to ensure that every Guyanese who wants a house lot or a house that the needs will be met.The ministry set up an active community development department to address the concerns of the populace and to build the capacity at the community level, for the implementation of key projects within.In pursuit of this goal, community outreaches were held in La Parfaite Harmonie, Angoy’s Avenue,NFL Jerseys Cheap, Eliza and Mary (also known as Little Africa,) and Lethem, where residents were able to raise concerns about the challenges they face in accessing housing and infrastructure and exploring possible approaches to resolving these issues.Additionally, six community meetings were held in Regions Three, Four and Six. These reached a total of 126 persons. These meetings addressed issues such as electing community leaders, identifying and implementing community projects and identifying stakeholders with which these communities can partner.Communities reached in these meetings include La Parfaite Harmonie, Recht-Door-Zee Phase Two core houses beneficiaries, Westminster Multi-purpose building Management Committee, Plum Park Sophia,Cheap NFL Jerseys, ‘A’ Field Sophia Community Group and Eliza and Mary.In terms of building capacity, a total of 22 community leaders were trained in Region Six. These include leaders from Ordnance/Fortland and the newly elected, Eliza and Mary Community Development Group.Meanwhile, three community projects were implemented during the reporting period. This include a Project Steering Committee elected and street naming exercise completed in Recht-Door-Zee Phase Two and the playground fence construction completed at Ordnance/Fortland in Region Six.Meetings were also held with the National Community Development Council to discuss the approach to community development from the perspectives of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), and identifying areas for collaboration.Part of the challenge of the housing programme is to devise methods to ensure that persons including those who have occupied informal settlements there are eligible for regularisation. Towards this agenda, in the past seven months,Wholesale Jerseys Online, 148 lots were allocated to persons in squatting areas under regularisation and 250 titles were issued to persons in squatting areas under regularisation.With regards to the hinterland, particular focus has been on the issue of affordability and provision of suitable living conditions.In this regard, building on the success of the second low income settlement programme, the Ministry has been successful in getting the Inter-American Development Bank to expand its core home programme in the hinterland. The ministry is set to receive an additional US$3M to build 200 more homes.Not only do these homes speak to affordability, but the structures’ construction will take into account the low population density, the reliance of the population upon subsistence farming, and the humidity of the areas among others.The provision of safe potable water plays a critical part of building cohesive communities. The past seven months saw particular focus on providing more access to this service. Particular attention was paid to providing developing communities with access.This resulted in communities like Barnwell North, East Bank Demerara among others receiving water for the first time in 15 years.A total of $422M was provided for coastal water programmes in 2015. More than $236M was invested to improve the urban water supply, $130 M to improve the quality of water supply in hinterland communities, $65M to improve the quality of service for residents in Linden and in excess of $526 M went to the Linden Water Supply Rehabilitation programme.Achievements under the Coastal water programmes include the drilling of four new wells at Hope, East Coast Demerara, Cotton Tree, West Berbice, Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara and Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara. GWI also commenced drilling a new well at Port Mourant which will benefit approximately 8000 customers. The water company also upgraded three water treatment facilities at Eccles, Timehri and New Amsterdam. The programme involved the installation of more than 10 km of mains to provide new service connections to at least 1,000 customers.Under the Urban water supply programme, six water service improvement projects were implemented to enhance the level of services received by customers in city communities. Four of these projects involved the installation of more than 10 km of mains in Georgetown to replace deteriorated and damaged mains which resulted in an improved level of service and a reduction of non-revenue water (water lost through leaks and breakages).Meanwhile, the hinterland water programme saw the implementation of seven projects to provide more access to a safe water supply for Guyanese living in hinterland communities. These include the installation of an engine, pump and distribution network at Mabaruma Settlement and Kamwatta, Region One to resolve the water supply challenges affecting the communities. At Port Kaituma, Region One, GWI rehabilitated several tanks as well as the distribution network.The company also commenced treatment of the water supply system to provide better quality water to the entire community. Mahdia, Region Eight also benefitted from the rehabilitation of the distribution system including the reservoir and catchment areas.A potable water well was drilled for residents of Monkey Mountain as well as a photo-voltaic system and a new distribution network installed. Residents of Princeville and Campbelltown, Region Eight and Kako, Moruca, Region One also benefitted from a new potable water well, the installation of a photovoltaic system and a new distribution network. |
