… Over 2000 Essequibo Coast residents attended to by Housing officials
Residents of villages along the Essequibo Coast, Pomeroon/Supernaam Reg. 2 have lauded the efforts of the Ministry of Housing and Water- Central Housing and Planning Authority as they commenced works to revamp the operating systems in the region. On Monday a team led by Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sherwyn Greaves initiated a plan of action with three massive public meetings at central points along the Essequibo Coast. The meetings were held at the Charity Secondary School, State House Anna Regina, and at Suddie Primary School, where scores of persons turned out to benefit from all services offered by the housing authority. Regional Officials also aided the work of the Ministry as they too have been bombarded with housing-related matters over the past few months.
According to Mr. Greaves, going into these engagements, certain decisions were taken to find solutions for issues that have had persons in a state of uncertainty for years. Gross mismanagement in the regional system has left hundreds of persons questioning their next step in moving forward for land allocation and other basic services. According to Mr. Greaves in most instances data collection was almost non-existent, hence hampering the smooth flow of operation to the main office. The filtering of critical information to the main office was not forthcoming resulting in persons waiting for years for ownership documents.
Residents expressed their frustration of being told to apply on numerous occasions only to be informed that their information wasn’t entered into the agency’s database. In response, Mr. Greave informed the residents that moving forward these occurrences will cease, as the agency has begun a data collection and cleansing exercise which will continue in the region until every person with an Acknowledgment Letter is added to the database. The CEO reiterated that the event will not be a one-off event as that is not sufficient to address the concerns. “What we realized, was that persons in the region have been getting little to no service and this was as a result of several contributing factors, which we have been addressed as we are here to serve citizens, so we simply have to put in the work to ensure that all citizens get the best service from us as a government agency,”.
Moving forward, the CEO committed to the residents that a team from the Ministry’s Head office will be frequenting the Coast to continue its data collection drive and provide updates on decisions made to have their issues resolved.
“Data collection is a very important part of our allocation process at the Ministry, if we don’t have a person’s relevant information in the system, which includes the date the application was made, what income bracket they fall under, we won’t be guided on what allocation best suits that person,” Greaves explained. All in all, Mr. Greaves opined that the event was a success as the feedback from persons were in the positive.
Meanwhile, residents expressed their appreciation for the team’s visit, saying they are now somewhat reassured that their issues will finally be put to rest. Tiffany Williams, a resident of Onderneeming said she is happy that some clarity has been given on her matter which has had her in limbo for several years. Another resident, Deoshankar Mohan said he is satisfied that he can now move a step closer to providing a home for his family.
Monday’s event was as a result of an outreach held recently by the subject Minister, the Hon. Collin Croal. During that outreach, the Minster was met with a string of complaints about the system that existed at the Ministry’s Region 2 Office. In a move to take better service to that region, the Minister had announced plans to have the regional housing system completely revamped in the best interest of persons. This exercise will see a full-fledged office with adequate and competent staffing to cater to the needs of that region.