Young professional houses: Govt to move to next phase of construction at Silica City – Croal

…says opening up of new housing areas progressing

The Government is expected to move on to the next phase of constructing young professional houses in Silica City, on the heels of the success of the Building Expo and the preparation work that was done on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway-based project.
In an interview with this publication, Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal said that with the completion of Building Expo, the Ministry is back to its regular work plan. In fact, Building Expo, which was held at the Guyana National Stadium last week, produced additional work for the Housing and Water Ministry and Silica City remains a priority in that workplan.

“The next phase now, moves to the construction of the houses. The young professional houses. So, we’ll move in that regard. We had one week of hectic, in terms of preparing for the expo and the expo itself, which was very successful. So now we get back to our regular work or achieving our workplan. And even from the expo. So, expect more construction of houses,” Croal said.
In February 2023, 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. 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.
The new city is intended to be one of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government’s climate change mitigation strategies. It is also intended to put a dent in the backlog of housing applications. The first phase of the project will see an initial 400 young professional homes being constructed.
According to Croal, with the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) already at saturation point in terms of housing, opening up new lands is of paramount importance. Croal noted, however, that the process of opening up new lands is progressing.
“Because of the response for allocations, we always have to have new lands. On the East Bank itself, we have basically reached a saturation point on the East Bank… going closer to the conservancy, most of the lands here on that side we’ve already allocated in terms of our design for residential, industrial, commercial, because there are a lot of activities on the East Bank.”
“So, when this road is opened up, if you drive on the current road, we have from Mocha to sixth, seventh avenue, Diamond, look on the left-hand side and you will be amazed to see the amount of work happening. Go at the back of Grove/Diamond, you will see works ongoing. And thousands of persons are waiting to access. So, by the end of this year, you will see opening up access to a number of areas where persons are waiting,” Croal further explained.

Silica 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 PPP/C Government had initiated talks on prior to leaving office in 2015, but which was never continued under the succeeding A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition Government.
In his first year in office in 2020, President Dr Irfaan Ali had revealed that Government had begun discussions on Silica City as a secondary city. He had explained that the Government was looking at an area on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway that would be connected to the new four-lane bypass road.
He had further noted that as development and expansion continued, there would be more occupation of the outskirts of Georgetown, and the country must be prepared for it. As a result, Government will be putting plans in place to ensure that such growth and development will be facilitated.
President Ali had also explained that the idea was not new, but was in the pipeline since he was Housing and Water Minister years ago, when the concept of Silica City was introduced at a Building Expo. In fact, talk of Silica City began as early as 2013, under the previous PPP/C Government. (G3)