By Khadidja Ba
The ground-breaking ceremony yesterday for the new River Place Commercial Complex by Unicomer Guyana has set high hopes for this 55,000 square feet state-of-the-art commercial complex that will offer world class facilities as well as a new Logistics Park measuring 60 acres.
Speaking at the ceremony, Sub Regional Managing Director of Unicomer, Vincent Gordon said that this project “is one of the single largest retail investments to date in Guyana’s history”. The first two phases of this project cost approximately US$33m while the third phase is currently still in planning and should include a hotel. He also shared that the new facility should be completed and open to the public in 18 months.
Gordon again highlighted the company’s “ongoing commitment to invest in Guyana and the people of Guyana to deliver a retail experience that is second to none. Today’s events cements that we will become even more entrenched in Guyana … We want to move forward with this project with a view of excellence, maintaining our commitment to build Guyana for its residents and positively contribute to the economy.”
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group Country Represen-tative for Guyana, Lorena Solórzano Salazar express-ed her pleasure at seeing the development of this project as financing for it was signed in April between the IDB Invest and Redstart Guyana. Redstart Guyana is a wholly owned subsidiary of Redstart Limited and it is jointly owned by Milady Group and Liverpool Group. The company was incorporated in Guyana in 1991 and is the real estate arm of Unicomer (Guyana) Inc.
Salazar also posited that not only will this project shape the future of the East Bank Demerara Corridor but that “the IDB, through this partnership, is not only creating a commercial complex but also creating a space for SMEs while responding to an increasing demand by middle and low socio-economic segments for retail products in Guyana”. Further, “by providing continuous support to the private sector capacity and enhancing the business climate, IDB is committed to sustainable growth.” In keeping with IDB’s sustainability intentions, this commercial complex will be built as environmentally sustainable as possible with the inclusion of LED energy, solar panels and local materials to leverage the local construction supply chain.
Vice President Errol Le Blanc thanked the Guya-nese public for their continued support over the years starting with their initial company, Courts over 30 years ago. Le Blanc, a former Courts General Manager here, expressed thanks to IDB for having confidence in Unicomer in terms of being a financial supporter for this project. The Government of Guyana was also lauded for their contribution to “creating a viable economic environment where the private sector may flourish. The Government of Guyana is very active in doing so, we appreciate the support in terms of the approvals we have gotten and also in steering the economy in such a way that the working man can earn good wages and be able to shop and improve his standard of living.”
In the absence of Presi-dent Irfaan Ali, Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Oneidge Walrond made remarks on his behalf. Walrond posited that in the last year, Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) have been growing in Guyana. But she added: “Too much focus is sometimes placed on the FDI, and the organic growth of the economy is missed. Organic investments such as this one lead to the adoption of new technology, equipment that improve productivity and efficiency, this helps companies overall to produce more goods and services with the same number of resources leading to overall economic growth.” Walrond also praised the Unicomer group for their Corporate Social Responsibility and said that she looks forward to continued partnership in this regard. Walrond also shared there is an active drive by the Government’s to increase the number of visitors to Guyana. She said that the Government’s strategies to diversify Guyana’s tourism product have been successful thus far and can be seen through their increased exhibitions, conferences and expos. “That is a deliberate strategy of Government to ensure that every single month, we are seeing an increasing number of people in Guyana”.
Walrond went on to state that the Government of Guyana is doing everything in their power to encourage this kind of confidence in investing in Guyana. She proudly stated that her fellow Ministers are readily accessible to facilitate the process to make things move a little faster for investors. “We are here, our doors are open, we are always open, don’t hesitate to call, send a WhatsApp, we are the WhatsApp Government, you can send a message anytime”.
Several commercial brands, namely Courts, Courts Optical, Ashley Homestore, Lucky Dollar, Radio Shack, ServiTech now fall under one parent company, Unicomer (Guyana) Inc. From one location of Courts in 1991, the company now has 25 branches across Guyana’s territory. In the coming 12 months the Unicomer group shall expand to include 4 new branches to the network for a total of 29 branches.
In April this year, the private sector arm of the IDB sealed an agreement to provide US$25m to Unicomer for the commercial complex at Farm.
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Sector, Dr. Ashni Singh oversaw the signing of an agreement between IDB-Invest and Redstart Guyana. The signing took place at the Ministry of Finance.
