January 21, 2021
– “We just cannot raise prices because of economic development”
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), Lelon Saul, has assured that the agency is committed to ensuring that every Guyanese has access to affordable housing even as Guyana transitions into an oil-producing nation.
“The CH&PA is mandated by law to provide housing for the working class. And whatever we do, we must ensure that the solution we provide, the working class can afford. We just cannot raise prices because of economic development,” Saul said.
The CH&PA has been addressing the housing needs of Guyanese citizens for decades. The agency ensures the divestment of government land to eligible Guyanese.
According to the CH&PA head, “once we have poor people in this country, we must be able to provide for them. We must take that into consideration and we will continue to subsidies the cost of housing to ensure that every citizen in this country, especially the “small man” is provided with a roof over his head and … I want citizens in this country to take comfort in that,” he affirmed.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2019 had projected that Guyana in its new oil-producing status this year, will see an additional 86 percent economic growth – 14 times the projected pace of the People’s Republic of China.
While Guyana’s annual gross domestic product is $4 Billion, it will expand to about $15 Billion by 2024, the IMF stated.
