Prefabricated wooden houses from Guyana are being demanded across the Caribbean with Barbados and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines already placing orders for 1,100 houses, President Dr. Irfaan Ali announced on Tuesday night.
Barbados was the first country to buy-in, ordering 1,000 of the Guyana-made houses to support its housing revolution.
DuraVilla homes, a Guyanese company whose reputation has been growing due to its ready-made wooden houses, had a 600 square-foot, two-bedroom prefabricated house on display at Barbados’ agro-fest earlier this year.
It was previously reported that by next year, 1,000 houses will be constructed and exported by this company in collaboration with Barbados’ National Housing Corporation (NHC).
The News Room understands that the modern houses, valued at about $10 million, will be provided primarily to low-income earners in Barbados.
Because of the large capital needed, President Ali said his government intervened to ensure that Guyanese businesses can capitalise on the demand for local products.
“When capital became a problem, we sat down on the problem and said let us fix it,” he said, noting that a contract was secured from Barbados and that allowed the local players to secure financing from the banks.
After that, President Ali disclosed, St. Vincent and the Grenadines expressed an interest in the product- ordering some 100 houses. Antigua and Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago have also expressed interest in this novel product.
With this keen interest in the Guyanese products, President Ali underscored that manufactured products out of Guyana are finding favour abroad. As such, he encouraged the local manufacturers to form partnerships with each other and collaborate with the government to ensure more products are export-ready.
And according to him, the government is keen on supporting companies that “put the time in”.
