Croal, Rodrigues defend decision to host ‘Dream Realised’ during Covid-19
A section of the gathering at the National Stadium
The Ministry of Housing and Water has defended its decision to host a public event at the National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara, that saw thousands of persons turning up to receive housing-related services amidst the global coronavirus pandemic.
The gazetted Public Health Ordinance mandates for gatherings to have no more than ten persons at a time.
At the two-day event, His Excellency Mohamed Irfaan Ali, who once served as Minister of Housing, delivered the feature address.
On Saturday, Ministers Collin Croal and Susan Rodrigues said that while they understand the constraints and challenges provided by the present health situation, they are also cognisant of the large number of persons who want to “get on with their lives, secure their land ownership officially, approach and receive bank loan approvals and construct their homes”.
The ministers stressed that the country cannot remain on a lockdown indefinitely, and there are key services which would have to examine the way they do business, with housing being one such agency.
The Ministry disclosed that they had just over 2600 titles and transports which were not delivered to potential land owners because in some cases, persons did not pick up the documents, signatures were not affixed to the documents by required officers and in some cases, persons did not complete the full payment for their plots of land.
Those issues were sorted out at the Providence exercise which was considered a success by the two ministers, who stressed that up to noon on Saturday, some 300 titles were distributed.
The two ministers were present all day, on both days, and met personally with citizens who sought intervention and clarification on issues which needed urgent attention and decisions.
