Sophia: from a squatter settlement to a housing scheme
A GINA Feature by Rekha Budhna
Guyana Chronicle
June 21, 2004
Sophia is one of the largest squatter settlements in the country to be converted into a flourishing housing scheme. Prior to the regularization process, the area was merely mud dams, bushes and small shacks.
Today, the area has been transformed into a community with beautiful houses, paved roads and proper but still developing infrastructure. Over the last few years, approximately $250M was expended in the area under the regularization programme.
Progress over the years
In 1990, about 400 people moved into Sophia and squatted on the land, which was once used for the cultivation of rice and the rearing of fish. It was all swamp and mud when a group of persons decided to use the area for housing.
Prior to 1992, the demand for housing was growing at an astounding rate and people erected shacks on Government reserves and other unoccupied lands. This led to the establishment of a large number of squatter settlements across the country.
In 1992, when the present Government took office, there were about 120 squatter settlements, both large and small. One of the first tasks of the Ministry of Housing was to register the existing squatter settlements and put a stop to squatting because it is illegal.
Before 1992, nothing was done by the previous Government to help the people in squatting areas, especially those in Sophia.
Regularization
Over the years, the population in Sophia increased to about 5000 households. Residents were living in the area in a disorganized way and there was no drainage system. There was an urgent need for regularization of the then squatter settlement.
Recognizing the urgent need for a housing project, Government embarked on a squatter regularization programme which was recommended in 1993. At that time, Sophia comprised mud dams. The trenches were clogged and there were serious problems with drainage and irrigation.
Two surveys were done in 1995, the Site and Occupational and the Cadastral surveys. Residents in the area were told to fill out application forms in accordance with the procedures at the Ministry of Housing and Water.
Recently, a group of residents were given their letters of allocation, since the area has now been regularized. Minister of Housing and Water Shaik Baksh noted that the occasion was momentous, since the area is the last of the nine areas in the Sophia Zone to be regularized. He stated that the area has developed a lot during the past years and now there are over 5,000 households in Sophia.
Squatter settlements are plots of land that were not surveyed and do not have basic infrastructure. In many cases, the land is overcrowded and create health-related problems.
Government is not satisfied with giving people land without ownership, but wants to give people a legal document, which they could pass on from generation to generation.
The Government has improved a large number of squatter settlements and regularized them into housing schemes. The basic infrastructural work, including the supply of potable water, the construction of drains, culverts and roads, has been a high point in the Government’s agenda to improve squatter settlements. Some residents of the regularized squatter settlements have also received titles to their lands.
The Ministry of Housing has been encouraging residents to maintain healthy environments in the housing areas. Residents are urged to dispose of garbage in a proper manner and construct flush toilets instead of pit latrines.
Through Government funding, the CH&PA has been developing new housing schemes and upgrading squatter settlements countrywide with proper infrastructure, including roads, potable water supply, and drainage structures.
The process of squatter settlements regularization starts when residents make requests to the Ministry of Housing and Water for their area to be regularized and for infrastructure to be established. After this the Ministry of Housing would visit the area and carry out surveys to identify areas for roads, drains and water supply.
After the surveys are effected, the Ministry would then move to provide the necessary social services needed.
In the case of new areas, land allocation starts with the selection of land for a new housing scheme, then potential homeowners apply for lots at the CH&PA. Priority is given to families with the largest number of children, after which lots are awarded to those families with fewer children.
Once a family is allocated a lot, it has three months to put down one third of the price. It is then given an additional nine months to complete payment. If an allottee fails to make the final payment, the lot reverts back to the Government. Persons whose lots have been taken back will then be placed on a register for a later allocation when they are ready to commence building their houses.
Infrastructural development
In 1995, millions of dollars were spent to construct the main access roads into the scheme. The main access roads, two bridges and four culverts were constructed at a cost of approximately $85M.
Government often uses the payment for house lots to develop the areas, but in Sophia many residents have not paid up their fees. The actual cost for each 40 x 80 plot of land there is $700,000. However, the Administration is asking residents to pay only $58,000.
Two other roads, of approximately three miles, were constructed with funding from the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), at a cost of approximately $55.5M.
Residents had a difficult time to access water, but through an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan, funding was secured. In continuing efforts to provide potable water for the area, trunk mains were installed at a cost of about $30M with funding from the European Union (EU) and secondary mains were installed at a cost of $27M with funding from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
Fire hydrants were also installed at strategic locations when the water project was completed.
Future plans
President Bharrat Jagdeo recently announced that approximately $1.3B will be spent to develop Sophia. However, negligent residents will not benefit, as electricity will be installed only at the homes of those who have paid for their land.
Some of the areas would have roads this year, while in other areas roads have already been constructed. The community will also be connected to the electricity grid this year, and residents would only have to make a beneficiary contribution of $10,000.
Under Phase Two of a Government of Guyana/Inter-American Development Bank programme infrastructural works will be effected in several areas, including Parfaite/Harmonie, Section A, B and C, Farmers Field and Plum Park, Sophia.
A market was constructed at the request of residents which will assist in removing the vendors off the streets. A new Primary School and Secondary School were constructed in the area and plans are underway for the construction of a Police Station.
Through the Government of Guyana/Inter-American Development Bank programme, Guyana will soon benefit from assistance with providing electricity to housing areas.
Also, through the Government of Guyana/Inter-American Development Bank programme, infrastructural works are being effected in 12 areas in the first phase of the project. The areas include Good Hope/Pomona, Charity and Charity Extension in Region Two, Block Eight Tuschen, Crane/Best, Diamond/Grove, Non Pariel, Foulis, and Good Hope.
Under Phase Two of the programme, several other areas will benefit, including Parfaite/Harmonie, Sections A, B and C, Farmers Field and Plum Park, Sophia.
Additionally, under another programme, financed by the Government and the European Union, several other areas will benefit, including Bell West, Parfaite/Harmonie, Glasgow, Sophia, and Area ‘Y’ Cummings Lodge.