The announcement by the Head of State at the Tiger Bay West End Youth Centre yesterday was greeted by a deafening round of applause.

President Jagdeo was at the time meeting residents for an update on progress since his first announcement of a gift of $15M for housing in February last year.

On that occasion he committed to giving the money to residents, soon to be relocated from the depressed neighbourhood to residential housing schemes and on house lots for which they will have title.

At that time, President Jagdeo pledged the $15M for the purchase of building materials for some 150 families.

In addition, the President, at the February 22 meeting, held at the same venue, made an on-the-spot decision for the Ministry of Housing to make available another 20 house lots to residents present at the meeting, but who were still without house lots.

Yesterday, he told the residents what while he was willing to listen to their problems, his visit was not merely for them to identify these, but to come up with solutions and see how best he could be of assistance to them.

The President learnt from the Committee of Management that work was continuing apace on more than 48 house lots at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo, Diamond/Grove, East Bank Demerara and that self help work was being done by two work forces - the dailies and those who work at weekends.

He was also apprised of problems being experienced with the expeditious disbursement of funds from the Ministry of Finance, to which President Jagdeo retorted that if there is a problem slowing the progress of the payments, then the ministry must deal with it, failing which he will deal with it.

The President indicated his desire to see work commence on the construction of houses at Haslington, East Coast Demerara as soon as possible.

Residents also complained that some of the concrete blocks being sold to them were of a poor quality, and again Mr. Jagdeo made a firm ruling that unless the materials supplied are of good quality the suppliers should be replaced.

"If you are paying someone (to do the job) please ensure he is a good person", President Jagdeo reiterated.

Mrs. Doreen de Caires, a member of the Oversight Committee reported that to date, some $6.1M of the initial $15M allocated had been utilised for the purchase of building materials with $8.9M remaining.

At the report that progress was being realised, President Jagdeo told the residents who are required to do self help on their homes:

"If you utilise all the resources from the initial sum of $15M by September, I am prepared to give you some more money."

"This means you have to move swiftly on getting the houses going," he told the keenly enthusiastic and deeply appreciative gathering.

The offer was well received by residents who expressed gratitude for both the previous gift and yesterday's promise by the President.

He also assured them that monies returned to the Treasury from the allocation made last year would not be lost, but be made available to them to continue their housing project.

And in relation to the additional 20 house lots, the Oversight and Management committees had submitted 15 additional names to the Ministry of Housing last year.

President Jagdeo suggested that the final 20 names be decided on only after careful screening to ensure that the persons approved do not already have lands.

He further instructed Minister of Housing and Water, Mr. Shaik Baksh, and Parliamentary Secretary on Community Development, Ms. Philomena Sahoye-Shury to revisit the West End Centre today for continued discussions with the people.

Meanwhile, Minister Baksh promised to provide the services of a reliable engineer who will offer technical assistance to the people as they proceed to work on the housing project.

The Tiger Bay residents were allocated house lots in four new housing schemes:

Diamond/Grove - 70 house lots

Tuschen - 41 house lots

Belfield - 27 house lots

Enmore/Haslington- 15 house lots

Saturday, April 24, 2004