Persons residing at Plantation Prosperity on the East Bank of Demerara will soon receive their Certificates of Title as the legal transfer of the land from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) will commence soon.
There are 167 lots within this scheme and 118 lots were officially allocated; however, Certificates of Title were not issued. Transports were not issued since the lands are owned by the sugar company and have not been regularised for over 20 years.
This announcement was made by Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal during a public engagement with Mocha/Arcadia residents at the Mocha Primary School, East Bank Demerara, on Friday afternoon.
“Now, there is a process when we have to transfer lands. There is a legal process and we have to go through that time period which involves gazzetting and publishing etc. Now, I am giving myself six weeks maximum to have this sorted out,” Minister Croal told the residents.
Upon conclusion of the legal process, the CH&PA will then gazette an order that will change the use of the lands in the area. This will allow the ministry to commence the processing of transports for persons in this area.
“I don’t want to go too much into detail except to make this pronouncement … all the persons in Prosperity, you can be rest assured, you will be regularised as well as processed for your transport,” he said.
Meanwhile, the housing ministry will proceed to regularise the Mocha squatting area; however, no new squatters will be recognised. Also, persons who own properties and are squatting in this area, will not be able to receive their transports as the process will only cater for first-time homeowners.
Residents were urged to cooperate with the ministry in this regularisation process, which is aimed at improving their livelihoods.
In addition, residents were informed that the quality of their water will be improved in the interim as millions of dollars are being expended to construct water treatment plants on the east bank corridor.
This initiative is aimed at increasing treated water coverage on the coastland from 50 per cent to 90 per cent by the year 2025.
Minister Croal was part of a five-member ministerial team that included Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister of Public Service, Sonia Parag and Minister of Public Affairs, Kwame McCoy.
Issues relating to agriculture and infrastructural development were also raised by the residents. The ministers responsible for these sectors assured of interventions to address these concerns. (Department of Public Information)
