OFFICIALS of Baupanel Systems Limited, a diverse worldwide group of companies with a commitment to affordable and sustainable homes and a more ecologically friendly environment, met President Donald Ramotar and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh yesterday.
They included Chairman, David Kendrick, Managing Director, Kou Hurst and Marketing and Communications Official, Paul Khullar, who, having done their homework, are confident that they can contribute to quality housing here.
Baupanel is a seismically resistant, thermally insulating building system based on a set of structural panels made up of expanded polystyrene (EPS) with a basic frame attached to the side of the panels. The frame consists of highly resistant steel mesh and corrugated bars linked together with electrically welded steel connectors.
Headquartered in Gibraltar, with ongoing projects in the Caribbean, Spain, Bangladesh, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and India, Baupanel Systems Limited is counting on its experience at offering low cost, improved building construction methods as the convincing tool.
“We build communities not houses, so we are looking at the fully integrated system, infrastructure, finance, making houses available at reasonable price… listening to what the people want and then delivering those houses,” Kendrick said in an invited comment to the Government Information Agency.
Through its share ownership basis, the official said the company makes it easy for aspiring homeowners who are often constrained, by offering financial packages to stimulate the market.
The officials have scheduled a meeting with Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, who in July announced that the Guyana Government, through the Ministry of Housing, is in receipt of bids from several international building companies willing to plug in excess of US$500M in housing development here.
Under the Ministry’s One-Stop-Shop exercise, 6700 lots will be made available this year, topping last year’s distribution of 6000 that were developed at a cost of $6.3B.
The ministry has set a target of 30,000 houselots for distribution within the next five years.
The launch of last year’s re-migrant housing programme to spur the return of Guyanese living in the diaspora to their place of birth has shown positive results, with interest of over 2,700, some of whom will be pulling their lots soon.
Under the programme also, 250 overseas Guyanese are expected to return home and another 200 in November, under a pact with the government that requires them to invest in home development within six months.