Officials led by Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues, examine plans for the new highland urban settlement – Silica City - being built in Guyana.

Guyana’s Ministry of Housing and Water said the government has already started shortlisting persons for homes to be built at Silica City, the new highland urban settlement to be built in the oil producing country.

On Wednesday, Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues and a team, visited a site earmarked for the first phase of development within the vicinity of Kuru-Kururu on the Linden Soesdyke Highway.

Susan Rodrigues

“We are here today to advance the planning and designs for the area so that we can bring this city to an early realisation,” Rodrigues said. “Silica city will have in its first phase about 3,000 acres of land but we are starting to do the land clearing for the first 185 acres, which will feature the ‘Innovation Village’ and the first 400 young professional homes.”

The ‘young professional homes’ are a category of government housing under a massive drive implemented by the administration, in addition to its plan to deliver 50,000 house lots to Guyanese citizens in this term.

Rodrigues said the development of the new City is being aggressively pursued. She explained that Silica City will complement the capital City of Georgetown and address growing climate risks. Georgetown is situated on the low coastal plain where rising sea levels threaten flooding.

The new City will have several zones, in keeping with the government’s low carbon development strategy (LCDS) 2030, incorporating alternative sources of energy and themes that seek to create a unique sense of community for its residents.