Govt seeking to accelerate works on building out Silica City

President Dr Irfaan Ali has stated that his government is looking to accelerate the development of its highly-touted Silica City Project on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway in the coming years.

Addressing a United Kingdom Business Mission currently in Guyana to explore potential opportunities, the Head of State pointed to his brainchild project, Silica City, as one initiative they can consider making investments in.
“[There are] exciting opportunities in the building out of Silica City. It’s open for investments. We have a lot of knockers at the door, but I think that you should look at Silica City as an important plank through which you can bring in foreign direct investment in the building out of the city,” President Ali noted.
With Government having already set the year 2030 as the deadline for realisation of the Silica City Project, the Guyanese Leader explained that works would be accelerated in building out this initiative in the coming years.
“As we continue to build beyond next year…we would want that city to be substantially advanced within [the next] five years. So, you can understand the pace with which we will go after that city. [With] tremendous pace, we’ll go after that city, and we’ll be looking at all the potential investors in matching the pace in getting the city done. It must be done; there is no stopping of getting it done,” he posited.
Conceptualised since 2009, and located on the Soesdyke- Linden Highway, Silica City is Guyana’s first modern and sustainable city.
Back in August, President Ali announced the completion of the planning model for Silica City, which is one of his government’s climate change mitigation initiatives under its Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
Only on Tuesday, the Head of State met with an executive team from Republic Bank Guyana to discuss collaborations on a number of innovative projects, including the Silica City project.
In February last year, a $2.1 billion contract was inked to develop Silica City. It is envisioned that, over the next two decades, this new secondary city along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway would grow to hold more than 12,500 households.
It would initially cater to just over 3000 households in the first five years, but 3800 acres of land have been earmarked for the new city. The first phase of the project would see an initial 400 Young Professional homes being constructed. It was previously reported that the Housing Ministry had already begun shortlisting persons for these homes.
In fact, construction has already commenced on the first 110 Young Professional homes in the city, and these works are 50 per cent complete.
Minister within the Housing and Water Ministry, Susan Rodrigues, inspected the progress of works at the project site last week. She also disclosed that all the infrastructural works have been completed, including road and drainage networks and the installation of utility services.
“We are looking to wrap up [construction on] these houses within the next few months…The next stage is to ensure that we have potable water to ensure people can move in immediately by the time the houses are completed,” she stated.
There are 75 flat housing units and 35 elevated units. The flat houses are priced between $25,200,603 and $25,290,178, while the elevated ones cost from approximately $33,980,153 to approximately $34,450,145.
Silica City would have high-end developments, including smart homes with the newest energy-saving technologies for wastewater management, energy management and water conservation. It would also have recreational parks, community centres, an electricity grid, and a multi-specialty health facility.