GUYANA’s newest City is in the making. Brainchild of President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the City is already generating a considerable measure of excitement not only among Guyanese but in the region as a whole.
And understandably so. Silica City is projected to be the country’s first sub-urban Smart City located on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway which links the capital City with that of the mining town of Linden and eventually with Lethem and the neighbouring country of Brazil.

Silica City conjures images of Silicon Valley which is home to the world’s largest high-tech corporations. It was in the Silicon Valley that the silicon-based integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and the microcomputer, among other technologies, were developed. It accounts for nearly a third of all of the venture capital investments in the United States. Over half a million of technology workers from all across the world are employed in that region.

Guyana has a long way to go in terms of reaching the technological advances of the Silicon Valley but there is no harm in dreaming big. The establishment of the Silica City, as envisaged by President Ali, will be among the best cities in the world and a main catalyst for the transformation and modernisation processes initiated by the PPP/C administration. According to President Ali, ‘young Guyanese would grow up in what will be a new City — Silica City — a City that will encompass all the modern features, all environmental features, sustainability features and freshwater. It will be a City that would be connected to the old City but it’s going to be a very young City. Maybe from how it looks, the average age in the City might be about 37 years. So it will be the next kind of generation’.

And as if the above is not exciting enough, the new City will also include the establishment of an innovation hub as well as massive development in the agriculture sector, according to the Guyanese President.
These are by no means empty idle talk and, in the words of President Ali, the establishment of the new City ‘is going to happen’. In fact, preparatory works have already commenced. According to Minister within the Housing Ministry, Susan Rodrigues, her ministry is aggressively pursuing plans for the construction of the City. Silica City, she said, will have in its first phase about 3,000 acres of land but land clearing will encompass an initial 185 acres which will feature the ‘Innovation Village’ and the first 400 young professional homes. Shortlisting of persons have already commenced for the homes.

In addition to catering for the housing needs of young professionals, the first phase of the project will also feature a number of commercial and industrial developments as well as other infrastructural developments which will include the construction of a hospital.

These are indeed visionary thinking on the part of President Ali and the PPP/C administration. Guyana is definitely poised for monumental changes, thanks to the emerging petroleum economy and the perspicacity and wisdom of the current leadership. Indeed, Guyana has now reached a new and exciting stage in its development, one that will undoubtedly redound to the good of all Guyanese.