1,000 house lots to be available at Reg. 5 housing drive set for June 5

One thousand house lots will be available to residents of Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) when the Ministry of Housing hosts a major “Dream Realised” housing exercise on June 5, 2026 at the Shieldstown Cricket Ground.

Minister of Housing, Collin Croal, said the initiative forms part of government’s commitment to clearing the long-standing backlog of housing applicants in the region.

Croal told the News Room that Region Five has not hosted a major “Dream Realised” exercise in recent months, with the last major engagement held in October 2024.

He noted that during that exercise, authorities were unable to accommodate all persons who turned out, resulting in more than 300 applicants being turned away.

“As a result, there were 300 plus applicants who were turned away. Now I can tell those 304 persons, as part of the 1,000 that we will be committing on June 5, you are the priority,” he said.

Croal explained that the government is now moving aggressively to clear the region’s housing backlog and expects to address all pending applications submitted up to December 31, 2025 by the end of next year.

“Our work therefore to clear the backlog, we would be able to say by the end of 2026 we will be able to clear all the pending applicants for Region Five that has land applications by the end of 2025 and prior,” he explained.

In addition to the allocation of house lots, more than 450 land titles will also be distributed during the exercise.

“Security of tenure, ownership is also important…so we have 450 plus certificates of title that will be available for distribution,” Croal said.

Croal further explained that over 300 titles from Lot 16 Experiment are ready for collection, while an additional 145 titles are available for persons in the Blairmont-Shieldstown area who have already completed the necessary processing.

“You will be able to come on June 5 to uplift your title,” he added.

Croal also provided an update on the Burma housing development, revealing that infrastructure works for a section of the area was stalled after the initial contractor was terminated.

“We have had to terminate that contractor and we have since reached to the stage whereby we will be awarding in the coming week…so one can expect within two to three weeks the resumption of the completion of the first phase infrastructure within the Burma area,” he explained.

Meanwhile, financial institutions, including banks, are expected to be present at the housing outreach to provide advice and planning assistance to prospective homeowners.

“We look forward to be able to service you as we embark to fulfill our commitment to delivering on the access to land and homeownership,” Croal said.