Not least among the eye-catching outcomes from the flurry of intra-regional engagements arising out of, first the 25 x 2025 event in Guyana in mid-May, and the subsequent May 28-29 Agro Fest in Barbados, was the realisation of a number of ‘understandings’ and Agreements with regard to intra-regional cooperation, going forward, on collaborative initiatives rooted in the application of the strengths of the respective member territories to address the needs of the Caribbean as a whole.
One of the interesting occurrences of the Barbados event was the realisation of an Agreement between the Guyana-owned company, Dura Villas, and the National Housing Corporation (NHC), which, according to its principals, will see Dura Villas deliver 1,000 pre-fabricated houses to Barbados within a year, with construction of the homes scheduled to commence by August this year.
The development is a reflection of a marked closeness in the relationship between Guyana and Barbados, which is being visibly spearheaded by Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, and which appears to have been largely the result of the challenge that has been set before the region of reaching a 25 per cent reduction in extra-regional food imports by 2025.
Representatives of Dura Villas and the Barbados NHC have already engaged on the project which, reportedly, targets low-income persons and sees the houses being sold at Bds$100,000 per unit.
The project will be seen here in Guyana as an opportunity for the country to deliver on its much-vaunted regional reputation in the house construction industry, notwithstanding the fact that here in Guyana, the prevailing gap between that reputation and the home-ownership being experienced by low-income Guyanese still remains to be filled.
Interestingly, reports from Barbados indicate that the NHC/Dura Villas project will maximally embrace the utilisation of local (Barbadian) building materials in the rolling out of the project. Dura Villas Chief Executive Officer, Rafiq Khan, has also asserted that the bilateral engagement out of which the initiative materialised has redounded to the benefit of both Guyana and Barbados.
Declaring that the project was the first of its kind for the company, Khan said that apart from having transferred skills during the collaborative phase of the project, Dura Villas had “learnt some techniques” on “how to do finishings, how to do pickling, how to take our woods and make it even more beautiful.”
In his comment on the agreement, Khan is also reported as saying that low-cost housing does not have to be inferior. “Not because it is an affordable home it has to be not appealing, it has to be uncomfortable. We want that whatever bracket of house you are in a starter home, a working-class professional or someone who wants to retire this home should be comfortable, affordable and appealing for all,” the Barbados Advocate quotes Khan as saying. Contextually, he is also reported as saying that the houses are design to withstand hurricanes, a prerequisite reportedly insisted on by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley. Accordingly, the houses are to be kitted out with hurricane straps and tight beams and are being engineered for strength and durability.
