From squatters to land owners
A GINA Feature
Thursday, October 21, 2004
In a matter of twelve years, the Housing sector in Guyana has undergone a dynamic transformation.
Before 1992, the demand for housing in the towns was at an all time high due to urbanisation trends. Hundreds of people were moving to urban centers only to find poor and limited housing, high rentals and a mal-functioning Government housing policy.
Squatting became a large-scale trend with over 200 squatting areas springing up across the country. Thousands of people were living without basic infrastructure such as water, electricity, roads and drainage.
Houses sprung up in a haphazard manner on private lands and Government reserves. Living conditions were poor and residents of these areas endured crowded insecure shelter, flooding, no access to potable water and the spread of diseases, with little help from the Government.
There was a high demand for land developed for housing that was affordable for every Guyanese. However, the standards for the distribution of public lands remained shrouded in ad hoc practices. This lack of transparency opened the door for subjectivity and favouritism in land allocation.
To compound matters there was no Ministry of Government mandated to focus on Housing.
The Government of the day did not see an effective housing policy as integral to national development. There was no obvious housing policy and residential housing development came to a virtual standstill.
Squatting was out of control and nothing was being done to improve the situation.
So it was when the PPP/C took office in 1992. The new Government immediately began to formulate a housing policy that placed public land distribution as a key factor in the social and economic development of Guyana.
A squatter regularisation programme was drafted to immediately provide basic services and improve the quality of life of people living in these areas. Land distribution and allocation are a key part of this programme.
The new housing drive is intended to ensure that people own the land they occupy and have basic infrastructural facilities. The issuance of land titles became a huge part of Government policy. This drive has resulted in over 60,000 land titles being distributed in the last 12 years.
The Ministry reduced the processing fee for land titles from $12000 to $8000 to be paid in two installments of $4000 over a three month period.
All the land that squatters occupied was not owned by Government and efforts had to be made for land divestments from organisations such as Guysuco.
As part of the regularisation programme, the Ministry of Housing and Water assesses the squatting communities and surveys are carried out. Through this process, house lots are allocated. This is in an effort to correct the haphazard manner in which the houses have mushroomed in these areas.
Government has also allocated land in these areas for social services such as health centers, schools and playfields.
A large part of the problem is that many people have occupied land that cannot be regularised such as sea defence reserves, Government reserves, cemeteries and other areas that cannot be converted into housing areas.
In these instances, Government embarks on a re-location programme that provides residents with house lots in an alternative area. The re-location programme seeks to place people in areas that have been allocated for housing and which will benefit from infrastructural works.
An example of successful re-location occurred when the Ministry of Housing and Water completed re-location of residents of Ogle squatting area to the Enmore/Haslington Housing Scheme.
Residents were given a $50,000 incentive to re-locate and the neediest of the group were able to access housing from Food for the Poor. These individuals are now living in a housing scheme that is being equipped with basic infrastructure. Residents already have access to potable water.
The Ministry of Housing and Water have a zero tolerance policy for those who do not follow regulations in squatting settlements. Basic infrastructural works cannot be completed if these areas are not regularised.
This year, some major squatting areas, including those at Tuschen, Zeelugt, Sophia, Liliendaal, Turkeyen, Patterson, Williamsburg and, Hampshire are benefiting from the Government of Guyana/Inter-American Development Bank (GOG/IDB) infrastructural development programme.
Infrastructural works will continue in 2005, incorporating all 145 squatter settlements nationwide. Minister Baksh said, “It is the Ministry’s objective to complete all basic infrastructure works in squatter settlements by December 2005”. Laying water mains, drainage, roads and electricity are priorities.
The Government of Guyana is working with Guyana Water Incorporated to ensure that all regularised squatter settlements receive a potable water supply at their homes. While there have been some problems, GWI has an ongoing campaign to correct leakages in the system and clamp down on the wastage of water.
A Government of Guyana/Inter-American Development Bank $300M Un-served Areas Electrification Programme will be implemented next year. Under this programme, squatter settlements will be electrified in two phases. Older communities will be the first to benefit from this programme.
Newer communities still have the option of forming committees and, at a higher cost, have their areas electrified.
The Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Housing and Water, is continuing to work to ensure that all Guyanese have access to affordable housing with the necessary infrastructure to improve their quality of life. |
