Silica City: Construction of houses to start this year – Min Croal 

Works are advancing on the Government’s highly-touted Silica City Project along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway with the construction of houses slated to commence this year.
This was announced during the Housing Ministry’s closing press conference for 2023 by subject Minister Collin Croal.
“We have completed with the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, the survey for over 3100 acres of land and this part of the first phase. Also, as part of the first phase, now we’ll see the advancement or the movement of the construction of the first 100 houses or more, but we’re starting with that. The land preparation is completed,” he noted.
The Housing Minister noted that they have also completed the Expression of Interest (EoIs) stage and they are now in the process of reviewing the contractors who have expressed an interest in constructing these houses.
Silica City is Guyana’s first smart urban centre located along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway. The first phase of the project will see an initial 400 young professional homes being constructed. It was previously reported that the Housing Ministry has already begun shortlisting persons for these homes.

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 city along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway will grow to hold more than 12,500 households.
The new secondary city is intended to be one of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government’s climate change mitigation strategies.
It will initially cater to just over 3000 households in the first five years but 3800 acres of land has been earmarked for the new city, and designs for the first phase of the project will begin this year.
The city will be a smart one, powered by renewable energy and developed with the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Goal 11 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Silica City is a development the last PPP/C Government had initiated talks on before leaving office in 2015, but which was never continued under the succeeding A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition Government.
Consequently, in his first year in office in 2020, President Dr Irfaan Ali had revealed that the Government had begun discussions to advance Silica City on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway that would be connected to the new four-lane bypass road. This project was a brainchild of Ali during his tenure as Housing Minister in 2013.

It was then announced in November 2023 that Guyana is working with the University of Miami to develop a masterplan for Silica City. At the time, President Ali had met with a visiting team from the university and local stakeholders to discuss that masterplan for the project and areas of academic development for Guyana.
Minister Croal told reporters at Wednesday’s press conference that the masterplan will be comprehensive and will cover the entire 12,000 acres area earmarked for this project.
“So, work is ongoing in terms of [advancing] the Silica City. But physically, you have seen land clearance last year and you’ll now see construction happening as part of this year’s programme,” the Housing Minister stated. However, even as they push ahead with Phase One of Silica City, which also includes the development of apartment buildings, malls, condominiums, restaurants, and other amenities, the Government has been encouraging investors to fund the mega project.
Back in September 2022, it was disclosed that the Government was in talks with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the development of the innovation village within Silica City.
Also, that same month, Saudi Arabian-based Dar Consultants had made a presentation on the village.
During the Dar Group presentation at State House in Georgetown, the company officials explained what the innovation village concept within Silica City will accomplish. For one, it will connect start-ups and business incubators to established companies, maximising their opportunities.
According to the group, the innovation village will be a geographic area, located within Silica City, where digital and innovative leading-edge anchor institutions and companies cluster and connect with start-ups, business incubators, and accelerators.
It will be physically compact, transit-accessible, technically-wired and will offer a mixed use of housing, office and retail spaces.
Meanwhile, in November 2022, a South Korean company – Yeachon Architect and Urban Planners – also pitched a seven-year plan for the development of Silica City.
According to their proposals via a video presentation, the city will be carbon-free, complete with housing, energy, transportation, healthcare, education and recreational facilities. Mention was made of smart farms, a hypermarket, and a commercial centre. They are proposing that the city could be completed by 2030.
Other Korean and US companies meanwhile made video presentations; on what value they could provide to the development of the city. (G-8)