Major incentives will be given to persons seeking to move or invest in Silica City – government’s 12,000-plus- acre upscale smart city development on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, about 45 miles from the densely populated capital of Georgetown, President Irfaan Ali says.
“Great incentives are in store for early birds,” the President told the Sunday Stabroek as he announced that plans are already on stream that would see both investors and homeowners reaping incentives for taking up offers early.
Ali would not go into detail as he is expected this week to make a formal announcement regarding the area he believes will be a model and the Caribbean’s first smart and innovative city, with a zero carbon footprint.
Of the 12,000 acres of land, 2,146 acres, the largest land allocation in the development will be for residential purposes. It will also include a commercial area, an industrial zone, a tourism district, a conservation district, an agriculture zone, a hydroponic area, administrative, and sports districts.
The brainchild of Ali when he was Minister of Housing in 2013, the development was conceptualised as a plan to reduce especially, the housing burden on Georgetown, the town with the highest population density in the country.
Then, he had announced during the fourth annual building and construction expo, that Silica City would be located amid 500 acres of land to be developed for housing along the Linden/Soesdyke Highway.
“This is an exciting time with exciting prospects… every person has real economic opportunities to grow and develop. Dream big – your government will support those dreams,” he had declared.
A vision that he is confident will be realised, Ali has increased the land mass by nearly 25 times and he is hoping that like-minded visionaries would understand the rationale behind its creation and take up the offers.
The President, who as a former Minister of Housing is credited with expanding the housing sector here, says that this time around the objectives of his administration are no different, only bigger.
Not fazed
This newspaper understands that the President will this week make public some of the incentives attached to the Silica City development.
To critics and doubters, Ali isn’t fazed, because coupled with positive economic growth projections for this country and revenue to be generated from oil, he believes that he has the backing of the Guyanese people, of whom he is confident will transform the desolate Soesdyke area, into a state of the art urban community.
Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water Susan Rodrigues has echoed Ali’s position saying that the city will complement the country’s rapid growth.
She has informed that the development would be guided by the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of sustainable cities and communities, and will be a transformational solution to address climate change impacts, such as flooding from rising sea levels.
Projected to cost the state some $81.7 billion, inclusive of consultancy services, identification, feasibility studies, and execution of the urban project proposals, $39.6 billion of that amount will go towards integral infrastructure, such as lighting, road network development, construction of drainage and culverts, sidewalks, water supply, electricity networks and land preparation.
“Silica City is about a modern low-carbon development path that is compatible with Guyana’s commitment at CoP 26 (United Nationals Climate Change Conference 2021). Silica and Guyana’s understanding is that a new modern SMART City is required given its geographic location and the rapid economic development that Guyana is witnessing,” Rodrigues had told attendees during the opening of this year’s International Building Expo.
A project that herself and colleague minister Collin Croal are expected to see through execution and realisation, Rodrigues too is confident and has said that the development of Silica City represents the transformational change that will bring life to Guyana’s low-carbon development pathway.
“Its design is guided by the SDGs, the New Urban Agenda (NUA), the city beautiful movement, the national multi-hazard disaster preparedness and response plan, and by the Housing Act 36:20, among other elements. Silica City will have beautifully aesthetic building designs, and most of all, the creation of a modern, new, smart city that will create the nurturing of lifestyles that balance culture, climate change risks, and economic vitality,” she explained.
Incentives
Over the next year, the executing agency is aiming to commence work on initiatives, such as a golf course resort facility, as well as an eco-industrial park and town centre along with phase one of the housing development.
In the presentation, it was outlined that the golf course facility will be a pristine outdoor recreational facility equipped with a nine-hole golf course, clubhouse, hotel and recreational facility.
An overview of the eco-industrial park will see an agglomeration of industries that can benefit from operational and marketing linkages and integration of the industrial park with a wider transport network.
Ali reiterated much of what he said on the eve of Guyana’s 55th Independence Anniversary, about creating a new city further inland. “We need to build new communities further inland to spread our population; reduce prices for land and housing and cease traffic congestion. We must use the land space, with which we have been blessed, to create new and improved living conditions new areas of growth and development and new population centres,” he said.
Now, he believes this even more, as he added, “We have big plans for Silica City and for the people moving there.”
