| After a two-month break, the National Assembly is set to reconvene in a matter of days.AFC’s leader,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, Khemraj RamjattanAccording to Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, among some of the issues that his party wants some clarity on, is the current housing policy of Government.“We have been receiving a number of complaints about Government’s housing programme and they are worrying.”Among some of the questions to be tabled would involve Government’s arrangements with lands on East Bank Demerara. The area has been one of the most concentrated across the country in terms of housing.However, large tracts of lands have been placed in the hands of private developers under what Government has described as public/private partnerships. There have been criticisms that these are prime lands while ordinary Guyanese are being pushed further into the back areas.“Our party is fully aware of the critical importance of housing to Guyana. But we are not aware how the lands on the East Bank of Demerara were given.“It seems as if large plots went to some close friends and cohorts of the ruling party under unclear circumstances. Was the process advertised so that other interested persons could have had a chance to also have access to these prime lands?”The lands Ramjattan is referring to are located in Eccles, behind Republic Park and Nandy Park, in Providence. It has also been reported that lands behind Herstelling, Covent Garden, Prospect and Diamond have also been given out for private development.Government had purchased the former cane lands from the Guyana Sugar Corporation and several housing schemes are currently under construction in the areas.A number of gated communities including Green Acres, Republic Gardens and Windsor Estates are now being developed by private parties between Eccles and Providence.Some of the lands under private development on the East Bank of Demerara that AFC wants answers on.“We also want to know what arrangements the Ministry of Housing and its arm, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), have with these private developments? Were monies paid over? How much? Was a market value used? Who are the parties involved in these so-called public/private partnerships? We want full details.”According to the MP,Throwback Jerseys, the answers are important as it will spell out whether Government unfairly distributed lands that should have gone to Guyanese who are badly in need of housing.“We hearing now that lands for house lots on the East Bank are running out and there is a need to go up the Soesdyke/Linden highway. As representatives of the people,Cheap Hockey Jerseys, we have been receiving these concerns from people who feel that all is not right with the house lot distribution process.”AFC will also be asking Government to reveal in the National Assembly its housing program, including details of areas in the hands of private developers.“AFC wants to make it very clear that we are not against development. However, the process in which the resources of this country is being utilized and spent is important. The process must be fair to all Guyanese and transparency and accountability should be there.”The MP,Jerseys From China, in signaling his party’s intention to ask for a review of the CH&PA’s operations,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, said that the questions are part of the AFC’s mandate to ensure transparency and accountability in the administration.The combined Opposition, AFC and APNU,Jerseys NFL China, have a one-seat voting majority in the National Assembly, the highest law-making forum in the country. |
