By LCN Business Desk
Three and seven tenths of a square mile, in one Saturday's gazette.
What was transferred, and to whom?
Land at Patentia, Linden, New Amsterdam and Canal No. 2 Polder, in five separate orders.
| Order | Transferee | Location | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 183 | Guyana Water Incorporated | Parcel 25, Block XVIII, part of Plantation Goedverwagting (Wales), West Bank Demerara | 0.494 |
| 184 | Central Housing and Planning Authority | Plots A and B, Plantation Patentia, Toevlugt Patentia Local Government District, West Bank Demerara | 101.938 |
| 185 | Central Housing and Planning Authority | Block 1 and Areas A to G, portions of Lot 53 or Old England, Town Council of Linden | 401.3814 |
| 186 | Central Housing and Planning Authority | Tracts F, G and I of Plantation Overwinning, and Tracts B and B1 of Plantation Providence, New Amsterdam, East Bank of the Canje River | 934.809 |
| 187 | Central Housing and Planning Authority | Tract A of Plantation Cottage or Little Alliance, Tract B of Plantation Beau Sejour, and Tracts C and D of Plantation La Resource, all in Canal No. 2 Polder | 929.886 |
Source: Orders No. 183 to 187 of 2026, Official Gazette of Guyana, 10 October 2026, Legal Supplement B.
The housing authority takes 2,368.01 acres across four orders. Guyana Water Incorporated takes 0.494 of an acre. The five together come to 2,368.51 acres, or 3.7 square miles.
Each order carries its own total, and each total reconciles against the parcels listed beneath it. Order 184 lists 46.745 and 55.193 acres and totals 101.938. Order 186 lists five tracts and totals 934.809. Order 187 lists four and totals 929.886. Order 185 lists eight areas and totals 401.3814.
Under what power were they made?
Sections 8 and 11 of the Public Corporations Act, by the Senior Minister with responsibility for finance.
All five orders were made under sections 8 and 11 of the Public Corporations Act, Cap. 19:05, and signed by Dr Ashni Singh, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, in October 2026. All five carry the same citation: the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (Transfer of Property) Order 2026.
The three bodies are defined in the orders themselves. NICIL is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, Cap. 89:01, with its registered office at Lot 199 Camp Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown. The Central Housing and Planning Authority is a body corporate established under the Housing Act, Cap. 36:20, with its office at Lot 41 Brickdam and United Nations Place. Guyana Water Incorporated is described as the entity created by the merger of the Guyana Water Authority and the Georgetown Sewerage and Water Commissioners.
What does the transfer clause actually do?
It moves title absolutely, and makes a copy of the order proof of it.
Clause 3 of each order is in the same terms. The title to the property "shall, as from the Appointed Day, stand transferred to and vested in" the transferee "absolutely, free and clear from all claims and liabilities."
Clause 4 goes further. From the Appointed Day, "a certified copy of this Order shall be deemed to be conclusive evidence" that the transferee "has absolute title to the Property", and any lease, licence, transfer, assignment or agreement granted in furtherance of the order is itself conclusive evidence that the person named in it is "seized of or possessed of or entitled to such land for the estate or interest therein specified."
So the order is both the conveyance and the proof of the conveyance.
When does it take effect?
On an Appointed Day that the orders define only as the day they come into operation.
Clause 2 of each order says: "'Appointed Day' means the date on which this Order shall come into operation". None of the five states that date. The definition points at commencement and the orders do not fix it.
Who surveyed the land?
Two sworn land surveyors, on plans dated between October 2025 and March 2026.
| Order | Surveyor | Plan | Dated | Recorded at the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 184 | Shabeer Ali | 95061 | 9 March 2026 | 23 April 2026 |
| 185 | S. T. Mayers | 94337 | 11 February 2026 | 27 February 2026 |
| 186 | Shabeer Ali | 92983 and 92985 | 15 October 2025 | 29 October 2025 |
| 187 | Shabeer Ali | 94533 | 29 January 2026 | 13 March 2026 |
Source: as above.
Orders 183 and 185 record the land as carrying no buildings or erections. The others describe tracts and plots without that statement.
What does this mean for the rest of the Caribbean?
That a state holding company can be unwound by order rather than by sale.
Nothing in the five orders is a transaction. No price appears, no consideration is named, and no valuation is published. The instrument moves title between two arms of the state and declares the result conclusive. What the housing authority intends to do with 2,368 acres at Patentia, Linden, New Amsterdam and the Canals Polder is not in the gazette.
NICIL's role in state assets has run through this newspaper's coverage before, in Guyana Has Promised Five Mining Companies That If the Law Changes, the State Pays.
The entities
- National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited is the state holding company whose property the five orders move.
- Central Housing and Planning Authority is the transferee in four of the five orders.
- Guyana Water Incorporated is the transferee in the fifth.
- Sections 8 and 11 of the Public Corporations Act, Cap. 19:05 are the powers under which the orders were made.
- Dr Ashni Singh signed all five as Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance.
- Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission holds the recorded plans on which each schedule relies.
- Shabeer Ali and S. T. Mayers are the sworn land surveyors named in the schedules.
What the title card shows
Every data point on the article's title card, in text.
- 2,368.51 acres. The five orders together. Source: Orders No. 183 to 187 of 2026.
- 2,368.01 acres. The four orders naming the Central Housing and Planning Authority. Source: as above.
- 0.494 of an acre. The order naming Guyana Water Incorporated. Source: as above.
- 5. Orders published in the same gazette. Source: as above.
- 934.809 acres. The largest single order, at New Amsterdam. Source: Order No. 186 of 2026.
- Quotation: "absolutely, free and clear from all claims and liabilities", clause 3 of each order.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do Orders No. 183 to 187 of 2026 do?
Each vests immovable property belonging to National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited in a state body absolutely, free and clear from all claims and liabilities, as from an Appointed Day.
How much land is involved?
2,368.51 acres in total. The Central Housing and Planning Authority receives 2,368.01 acres across four orders, and Guyana Water Incorporated receives 0.494 of an acre.
Where is the land?
Plantation Goedverwagting at Wales and Plantation Patentia on the West Bank of Demerara; Lot 53 or Old England in the Town Council of Linden; Plantations Overwinning and Providence at New Amsterdam on the East Bank of the Canje River; and Plantations Cottage or Little Alliance, Beau Sejour and La Resource in Canal No. 2 Polder.
Who made the orders?
Dr Ashni Singh, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, under sections 8 and 11 of the Public Corporations Act, Cap. 19:05.
When do they take effect?
On the Appointed Day, which each order defines as the date the order comes into operation. None of the five states that date.
Was any price paid?
No consideration, price or valuation appears in any of the five orders.
What proves the new owner's title?
Clause 4 of each order provides that a certified copy of the order is conclusive evidence that the transferee has absolute title to the property.