Steel, cement subsidy distributed to 79 Essequibians in second round

AS government works to improve lives and make building a house more affordable, the Ministry of Housing and Water, on Friday, handed over cement and steel subsidies to 79 Region Two residents.

This comes several weeks after 52 residents benefitted from a similar distribution exercise.

During her address, Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues, said that government wants to assist citizens with home ownership.

“This is some further assistance to get you on the road to home ownership. This is the importance of the steel and cement subsidy. It is not a handout, it’s a carefully crafted programme to help persons to start with their foundation and be able to construct their homes,”

Rodrigues said. She urged the beneficiaries to make full use of the subsidy and other measures that government is putting in place to help them.

According to the minister, the initiative has attracted over 1,300 applications and more than 700 have already been approved.

Meanwhile, many of the beneficiaries expressed their gratitude.

Ken Samsundar, a father of two and resident of Aurora Village, told this publication that he is very happy for the assistance.

He explained that it will help him to start his foundation and he used the opportunity to thank the minister and her team for the much-needed assistance.

Lishanna Ramdharie-Sooklall of Golden Fleece and Mary Ally, a mother of five who lives in Capoey said they were overjoyed.

Ally related that with the voucher, she will be in a position to start building her house.

Many of the other beneficiaries expressed their happiness and satisfaction with the programme and thanked the Government of Guyana and the Ministry of Housing for improving their lives.