Just about three months after he floated the idea of exporting locally-made houses to the Caribbean region, President Dr. Irfaan Ali has highlighted that discussions have progressed and these houses will soon be exported at a cost of about $5.2 million.
The President said that the houses are being constructed in collaboration with the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA).
And, these houses, Dr. Ali explained, are flat-pack, kiln-dry, prefabricated timber buildings. This means that the houses are built beforehand and would simply need to be assembled at their destination. The houses are expected to measure some 700 square feet.
The President related that these buildings will be constructed and exported for about US $25,000 (or approximately $5.2 million).
“It is very difficult to beat that,” the Head-of-State told a gathering of Guyanese and Ghanian officials and private sector players on Monday.
While delivering the feature address at the Barama Company’s anniversary celebrations in September, the President highlighted that one of his government’s plans is to create 1,000 model houses in the new city that is being developed.
Those homes, he explained, are expected to be made almost entirely from local products and using local labour.
But Dr. Ali has also noted that these houses can be exported to the Caribbean region- particularly to those countries that are vulnerable to frequent natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes.
And so, after highlighting the highly-competitive sale of the read-for-export houses, Dr. Ali called on the private sector players in Guyana and Ghana to think about similar innovative ideas.
Already, President Ali assured the private investors that the “red tape” and “bureaucracy” will be removed so that business opportunities can be more readily pursued. This is particularly important since it is expected that business people will help advance the Guyana/ Ghana bilateral relations. (Vishani Ragobeer)
