By Shuntel Glasgow
Hundreds gathered at the Guyana National Stadium yesterday for the opening of International Building Expo 2024 and President Irfaan Ali declared that the planned Silica City will be a “masterpiece”.
This year’s expo featuring over 500 exhibitors both local and international, is being held under the theme “Building on the Foundation of Sustainability and Unity.” Exhibitors have come from as far as Canada, India, Indonesia, Italy, Trinidad, the United States and Zambia. Together with the locals, they are focused on providing diverse technology and modernised facilities in the housing sector.
Minster of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, who addressed the opening, stated that applicants for housing lots can now receive status updates and responses within 30 to 45 days after submission. Initially applicants were made to wait for more than 90 days before receiving a response from the ministry. More than 40,000 house lots are expected to be allocated by the end of 2024. Some 2,000 house lots are to be allocated over the next two days and 1,700 certificates of title will be issued.
President Ali in his address, boasted that Silica City along the Sosedyke-Linden Highway is a “masterpiece” that will be the most desirable city for residency. The School of Architecture of the University of Miami is working along with the government to complete the layout of the city. It is expected to feature innovation, modernization, advanced technology, and resilience. Further, the city is expected to be eco-friendly and safe.
“What you will see in this city is not only a place to live but a place in which you will live healthy, safe and a place in which the future generation of Guyana would be proud of. It is a city that is in harmony with nature …encouraging the use of eco-friendly building materials suitable for a tropical climate. It will be energy efficient. It will use smart technology for wastewater management, energy management and water conservation. It will have digitalized transportation, electricity, grid buildings, and multi-special health care. An environment that enhances wellbeing productivity and happiness… Silica City must give you years on your life and we want to use this city as an example of how healthy living can lead to increase life expectancy rate. That is one of the measurement tools we are using to evaluate Silica City.”
The government allocated over $240 billion to the housing sector when it took office in 2020 while delivering over 35,000 house lots which resulted in the construction of several four-lane highways to accommodate the growing population. It will also be launching a project called the Homestead Programme on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway that is expected to deliver some 500 homes to single parents in six months. The project will include a shade house at the back of the home powered by solar energy to reduce the cost of electricity. The shade house will foster economic activity on the plot of land that will help to repay the loan. Within two weeks the designed layout will be ready for works to commence on the project.
“We are launching a new innovative project that is called the Homestead Programme on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, where before the end of this year, we want to build one of the fastest communities in the history of our country and the history of this hemisphere. We want to deliver 500 homes in six months. A remarkable task before us, but it’s not just delivering homes. These homes will be delivered to single mothers. But it is an economic model that we want to test. These homes will be small-farm size. So, for the first time, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Housing, Lands and Survey, the Office of the Prime Minister, and the Ministry of Human Services, will be working together to deliver this project.”
