The Ministry of Housing and the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) are exploring the possibilities of implementing a pilot programme to establish 40 new low-income houses using locally produced greenheart.

Geoffrey Da Silva

This venture is in keeping with the ministry’s thrust to provide affordable housing and will target professionals such as nurses, teachers and doctors, a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.

Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali who was invited by executives of Dura Villa Homes Guyana Incorporated to inspect a constructed model said, using local products will generate employment as well as create potential in the wider market for Guyanese products. Dura Villa Homes is a privately owned United States constructing company, GINA said.

Meanwhile, Head of Go-Invest Geoffrey Da Silva said the agency met with the company last year to discuss ideas and plans for implementing the project here. Though he acknowledged that concrete is the preferred material for building homes locally, he said greenheart is also very sturdy. “Greenheart as we know is long lasting, it’s a very strong, sturdy wood that can last over 100 years and it is pest resistant…But we are very happy mainly that we are now going to be seriously developing in Guyana, using the country’s woods beautiful houses for our people and for the Caribbean,” Da Silva said. According to GINA it was noted that the houses can be dismantled and reconstructed within seven days and will be sold at a cost of $3.5M.

CEO at the Central Housing and Planning Authority Myrna Pitt said that for the past 16 years the institution has been challenged in making homes affordable and it is open to ideas and receptive to innovative designs and use of materials to help reduce the cost of housing for low-income groups. She said too that a critical component of the housing drive is financing and alluded to the reduced interest rates for low income mortgages – 4.95% – that the New Building Society is now offering. “It is our challenge now to look at designs and material use that would fit within that general criteria of affordability and making the shelter solution for low-income earners easily accessible and affordable… we would need to challenge developers as well as to continue to come up with solutions that will be affordable and accessible to our allottees,” Pitt said.

Additionally, Managing Director of Dura Villa Homes Wayne Spears said over the last year the organisation has addressed tremendous demands for housing not only in Guyana but throughout the Caribbean. He said its mandate is to design systems that would not only cater for strong and durable homes but those that can be built, in a matter of weeks rather than months to meet the needs of developing countries. “What we came up with is a system that we could originate out of Guyana using local building products without having to import a lot of products from China, the United States, or other countries. We can have access to them here and assemble the components and locally package and ship them… The structures we design are engineered as such that the components inter match and they would be easy to assemble,” Spears said.

According to GINA the Tuschen Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo has been earmarked for the project.