The above theme of the International Building Exposition hosted by the Ministry of Housing and Water, which was held at the National Stadium in Providence from last Friday  to Sunday is an apt one, according to Housing and Water Minister, Irfaan Ali.
During his address at the opening ceremony last Friday he said that the transformation of the Public Sector has been affirmed by measureable indicators, and that the progress in the country is highly visible, although he admitted to the fact that there is more work to be done before government achieves ‘break-even point’.
He referred to one of those indicators as being the dynamic changes at Diamond, located not far away from the National Stadium where the Building Exposition was being held, where he said there was a new school, a new hospital, new banks in a new community, which is merely one of the many new communities that have contributed significantly to the accelerated dynamics in the construction sector.
He credited President Bharrat Jagdeo for the concept of the Exposition, which ended yesterday, as it evolved from a challenge issued to ministers by the President to be more visionary in the execution of their respective mandate.
And visionary Minister Ali is, as even the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission acknowledged, crediting Guyana’s youngest minister for driving the ministry under his watch into “a more dynamic, results-oriented, and results-driven organisation”.
Adding to this record of ground-breaking achievements, the minister said that in the near future banks would be located within the precincts of the Housing Ministry – expanding on the concept of the ‘one stop shop’.  He described this projected Public/Private Sector partnership as being the pinnacle of collaboration between public and private sectors in Guyana, in the Caribbean, and the rest of the world.
Issuing a challenge to “persons who are distracted from the growth and development of this country” to measure the Government by what is being done, by performance and by output, the minister stated that “…this government delivers every day to the people of this country”.
Speaking of the immense contribution to the economic development and transformation of Guyana by the construction sector, the Minister said: “You would walk through this Expo in what we call ‘the commercial boardwalk’….sometimes we are very busy in our lives and we don’t have opportunity to see all the buildings….the huge buildings that are going up across the city, inside of the city, in Region Six, Nine, Ten…all over the country, so we brought a very minute sample of that development in a commercial boardwalk so that all of us can see, all of us can appreciate, and all of us can celebrate the growth and expansion of the construction sector.
“And I say celebrate, because sometimes we beat ourselves up so much.  If we look at the press at times we think that things are going so wrong,and we don’t stop to celebrate the accomplishments we have made as a people.”
Congratulating the private sector, members of which body Minister Ali described  as “bold investors who have been transforming this country with the re-construction, re-engineering and re-designing of the buildings in which they do business”, he said that this is a sign of growth and prosperity, as well as a sign that Guyana is ready to compete at the highest levels and expressed his pleasure at the remarks of the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission and his hope that the Building Expo would “…ensure that we convince ourselves that we are ready to play on the big stage”.
According to Ali, Guyana possesses the best and some unique products.  He mentioned Guyana’s hardwoods and said that our mouldings and panel doors are of superior quality, but that marketing strategies need to be improved.
Alluding to the President’s concern that not enough is done in the area of research and development, the Minister said that Expos offer opportunities to coordinate resources, to demonstrate that Guyana possesses the ability – and also to show that that ability should be further developed and expanded.  He encouraged his audience to “leave this Expo with a conviction in our hearts that we are going to work harder to build on the strong foundation to ensure that the progress and development that we have made continues….to ensure that the sector grows stronger, and to ensure that we are strong enough to penetrate markets outside of Guyana.
“For example, we have a hardwood door that if you kick it you would break your toe….and we have a pine door that is imported, if you kick it your foot would pass through:  Both of the doors are sold at the same price…let us ask ourselves this simple question:  Why is it that mixed hardwood door is not the best seller, the fastest seller, and the largest seller in the wider Caribbean?”  Providing his own response the Minister said that this anomaly is because the players have to challenge themselves in a partnership, whereby the Government has responsibility to create the enabling infrastructure, which he contended is being done, and that the expositions allow that; but he also stipulated that the Private Sector also has to buy in to the idea then build enough capacity to penetrate into overseas markets and capture global market shares, which would also earn foreign exchange for this country.
Ali expressed his pleasure that linkages have already been established between some local businesses with exhibits at the Exposition and Caribbean partners and said that the Minister of Public Works of Antigua, as well as a group from Trinidad and Tobago, had met a few of the major local manufacturers, contractors and suplliers in an effort to build linkages and create partnerships.
“We want this Expo to allow our private sector the opportunity to forge those  partnerships – and to be innovative”, Ali said.  “We in Guyana do have to come together….When we are small we have to come together to get medium-sized……We need to come together, work together in an effort to penetrate markets for the betterment of Guyana.
“We have to be proud.  I am very proud to stand here knowing that the construction sector is going to benefit from an addition with the Marriott Hotel.  There is no question that an investment like the Marriott Hotel…. that investments from new housing schemes from the private sector itself would create wealth, would create opportunities, and would promote Guyana. We must not stop short of promoting these positives.  We must not stop short of selling these visions. We have to ensure that the participants of this sector – the financial sector, the builders, the contractors all have confidence in the sector for it to grow (because) if we don’t have confidence in the sector then how will we invest in the sector?”
He expressed his pleasure that the Private Sector is now speaking out on these matters, which he describes as very important, and said that “…today we can celebrate the partnership, we can celebrate the vision, and we can celebrate the successes in the construction sector.
“The time has come for us to remove ourselves from negative thinking.  Let us stop burdening ourselves with the thought that we can’t do better.  Some people want us to burden ourselves with that (but) we have to ensure that we maintain a positive outlook, because our economy demonstrates to us that we indeed have reasons to celebrate; so in the Expo you would see a Stabroek Re-development Plan; and that is the vision of the Government – to ensure that we transform to meet the highest standards.  You will see the Seawall Re-development Plan – a sample of it; and you will see the City Boardwalk that we hope to build behind the Stabroek Market.”
The minister said that the President has spoken before of these visionary plans, but that they are now being propelled further, beca
use Government is convinced of the eventual success of these initiatives with the strong support it is receiving from the Private Sector.
According to Minister Ali, along with the opportunities provided exhibitors to promote their products and services, the Expo also offers visitors the chance to compare and understand different materials and standards available on the market, so that they can have an idea of the way things are done on an international scale, with the result that the best of choices can be made in the construction of buildings in more cost-effective and labour-efficient ways.
Providing the assurance that the International Housing Exposition is meant to complement the major national exposition, which is GuyExpo, the Minister described the larger national exposition as “a major demonstration of the wide cross-section of the services and products we offer.  This Expo complements the work of GuyExpo”.
The Minister informed the gathering that the Expo also incorporated twelve education seminars that will address subjects such as quality, products, and financing where, during the latter event, the banking sector would be advising those who have acquired mortgages on how to manage their loans.
In conclusion Minister Ali revealed that Government has come to an agreement with Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) that every low-income family – every person who is allocated a low-income houselot, will get up to eight slings cement at a 20% reduction upon presentation of their letter of allocation.
Corporate entities to whom the Minister expressed appreciation for partnering with the Ministry of Housing in the Exposition include Gafoor’s, Emagine – GT & T, GBTI, Buddy’s Housing Development, Global Hardware, Citizen’s Bank, TCL, Continental, BK International, Rent-A-Tent, Republic Bank, among others.
The International Building Exposition, which was a resounding success and achieved much of what the Minister and his hard-working staff intended, ended yesterday.