… ‘Bridging the gap and Transforming Guyana’
‘Bridging the Gap and Transforming Guyana’ is the theme behind the International Building Expo (Two) 2011, which will be staged at the National Stadium, Providence, from July 29-31.
Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali made this announcement during the launching ceremony last evening at the Princess Hotel, Providence.
“You are with us, and we are with you. Together we made it possible in 2010, and together we will make it possible, and even with greater success, in 2011,” the Minister said, speaking to the members of the business fraternity which supported the expo.
He said, “When the idea was first conceived, we first wanted to expose our local consumer to the advantages and disadvantages of various products and product availability and unavailability for the local market. But when it was advertised, it quickly outgrew that vision because of the response from regional companies,” he said.
He said the regional companies wanted to enter the local market, “and in an open system like ours, we have to offer the opportunity for this kind of competition.”
“The vision, as we speak now, is to make Guyana international building expos within five years the premier building and construction exposition in Latin America and the Caribbean,” adding, that Courts is speaking about establishing their regional storage facility in Georgetown.
“They are speaking about making Guyana the centrepiece for their expansion to South America and that is even without the commencement of the deep water harbour,” the minister said.
He encouraged the private sector companies to “get on the bus” in terms of investment, since in a few years, with the wave of new sectors that are projected to take off, it will become competitive to mobilise investment. “What we foresee is a tremendous burst of energy in the creation of the new sectors and the expansion of existing sectors,” he said.
The minister pointed out that from the last building exposition to now, growth in housing portfolios in the banking sector has been 24 percent. “A lot of that has to do with the opportunities that the building expo provided,” he said.
He said over the last three years government allocated over 17,000 house lots. He said, too, that in the East Bank development alone, there will be another 15,000 house lots in another two years. “By the end of this year, we would have ready 3,500 house lots [and] next week Thursday we will be allocating the first 1,000 house lots in the expanded Eccles development,” the Minister said, noting that two weeks after that there will be another 300 lots available in the Herstelling expansion.
He noted that by the end of 2011, there will be approximately 1,000 lots available to the private sector for housing development.