A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was yesterday clinched in Dubai between a Guyanese construction firm and an Emirati company for a US$5m, 20,000-square foot facility here to introduce voided slab manufacturing technology.
A release from Smart City Clearing Company Ltd said that Guyana-based Engineering, Procurement, and Construction firm Global Infrastructure Solutions Guyana Inc and Unidome Global DWC LLC, a United Arab Emirates-owned company, have agreed to partner to develop the facility to bring Unidome’s state-of-the-art voided slab manufacturing technology to Guyana.
The MOU was executed between Khalid Al-Qaqa, CEO Unidome Global DWC LLC and Troy Phillips CEO of Global Infrastructure Guyana Inc.
According to www.concreteconstruction.net voided slabs eliminate concrete where it isn’t needed and the subsequent weight reduction makes longer spans possible.
The release said that the US$5M investment will allow the creation of Unidome’s biaxial voided slab technology in Guyana which will be used to help build and develop key infrastructure needed for country’s oil and gas industry.
This technology will become a critical building block as Guyana pursues an aggressive plan of building a deep-water harbour and a 100-mile Deepwater natural gas pipeline as well as numerous shore bases and industrial zones, Guyana Office for Investment CEO, Dr. Peter Ramsaroop stated in the release.
“With many shore bases coming on line and over 2,000 hotel rooms in development, technologies like Unidome and partnerships with local Guyanese companies like Global Infrastructure Solutions Guyana Inc are critical to Guyana’s long term success”, he added.
Global Infrastructure Solutions CEO Phillips stated, “Global Infrastructure Solutions is honored to take part in this historic event as we work together to bring best practices and unique technologies to Guyana”.
Steven Jasmin, Managing Director of Smart City Clearing Company Ltd. and its affiliate Sc3 Guyana Inc. added “Unidome’s cost effective and environmentally friendly technology both will help reduce the cost of infrastructure development while simultaneously helping to foster Guyana’s net zero emission goals”.
The release said that Unidome’s technology helps to limit one of the largest contributors to C02 emissions in the construction industry by cutting the total amount of concrete needed in projects. The release said that one container of Unidome eliminates 30 truckloads of concrete which helps to reduce construction costs by almost 30% and greatly reducing the amount of C02 emissions.
Sherwin Sandy from Guyana-based Sandcorp Development Inc. who was in attendance and will be helping develop the Guyana-based manufacturing facility as part of an industrial park that he is developing in conjunction with Acarai Properties Guyana Inc. stated, “Historically Guyana couldn’t afford to attract light manufacturing, I am excited to be working with both Global Infrastructure Solutions Guyana Inc. and Unidome Global …to be one of the founding tenants of a new industrial park that we are in the process of conceptualizing and developing to help support Guyana’s growth.”
Because of global supply chain issues and to help lessen Unidome’s carbon footprint, the choice was made to set up operations here to service not only Guyana but the Caribbean region. “Unidome is quickly growing its global footprint and as it finalizes the development of its 4th plant in Egypt, we saw the opportunity to establish a facility in the world’s fastest growing economy – Guyana, South America”, Unidome Global DWC’s CEO Al-Qaqa said in a statement during yesterday’s signing ceremony.
“As part of our efforts to develop bilateral relations with countries from around the world that would benefit our respective economies and establish new trade routes, we are pleased to be sharing our expertise and best practices with Guyana,” said Mohsen Ahmad, CEO of Dubai South Logistics District.”
The signing ceremony came amid President Irfaan Ali’s State Visit to the United Arab Emirates. The release said that the ceremony was attended by representatives from both the Government of Guyana as well as The Emirati Government. The Guyana delegation was led by Ramsaroop and representatives from the Guyana Private Sector including Paul Cheong, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, and Captain Gerald Gouveia Jr., Senior Vice President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Appearing on behalf of the Dubai South Logistics District was CEO Ahmad as well as Director of Business Development, Logistics Dubai South Tari Badri.
