| Building expo plans… ALI OUTLINES BENEFITS OF BUILDING EXPO STARTING TODAY |  |  |  |
| Written by Priya Nauth |
| Thursday, 05 July 2012 22:07 |
THE first allocation of lots in the proposed Remigrant Housing Scheme will take place during the Building Expo 2012 which opens today. Minister of Housing and Water, Mr. Irfaan Ali made the announcement to the Guyana Chronicle, when speaking about the third international building exposition and some of the great developments that will take place at this event which runs through July 8. Minister Irfaan Ali “You know that we had launched the Remigrant Housing Scheme sometime ago and, at this Building Expo, we will be part of history. The first set of allocations for that project would be done then and we have confirmation that more than a 100 Guyanese living overseas will be coming in specifically to complete their related transactions. “So this is exceptional excitement. It also means that we will have, by the end of this year, more than 600 people who are overseas-based Guyanese coming back to Guyana, bringing their money here to invest in building their own homes which will create employment and opportunities for the building sector,” Ali observed. Specific demand He said the need for this building expo emerged from the specific demand of the exhibitors themselves and the consumers. “Our building and construction sector has been undergoing continuous growth and we are seeing more persons owning their own homes, more access to loans, more commercial buildings going up and larger scale type of development,” Ali pointed out. He said,“All of this drives the need for market information on different products that are available, changes in technology, pricing, and also for exhibitors to have an opportunity to access new markets, expanding the markets and introducing new products to them.” Ali said the Building Expo brings together everybody under one roof, with materials, services like banking, insurance, landscaping, electronics, security, construction and contractor, architectural and land surveying services. “People processed their loans from here, from the last building expo,” he revealed. Ali said, this year, some companies are offering a lot of incentives, with one of them giving out a sling of cement every three hours. “We are trying also to look at national development and some of the transformative projects that our country is going to undergo, for example the Marriot Hotel and the new airport, all of that will be depicted in this expo. So persons can have an appreciation as to the development agenda of the government, as to the important steps that the country is taking to modernise and transform itself. So these are all important aspects of the expo,” he explained. Ali said the linkages among the different sectors will also be demonstrated. “You know that we are focusing a lot on tourism and we are having a lot of expanded expenditure and investment in tourism and part of it is to improve our infrastructure, so a lot of tourism related building and construction would also be highlighted here.” He said some 100 booths will be on show, with international and regional participants, and major participation will be seen from the United States, Suriname, Trinidad, Barbados and China. “We also have, for those who are interested in the building sector, various opportunities. We have some large investors who are coming in with major housing developments which will bring a lot of private investment and private capital into the county. So this also would demonstrated. “We have one company here, for example, from the U.S. and one from Suriname, both specialising in steel-frame houses which are very durable, very strong and can be built very quickly,” Ali stated. He added,“We have more and more difficulties in wood production because of the expanded nature of our construction sector. The demand is outstripping supply. So there are a lot of alternative materials and sourcing here, too. “I think that this expo offers a very comprehensive opportunity in terms of having information, participation, or just for educational purposes,” the Minister remarked. |