Booming construction industry see Gov’t/ private sector moving to sustain it

The Guyana Government is ramping-up its collaboration with the private sector to sustain the positive momentum of the country’s construction industry.

President Irfaan Ali, made the announcement on the sidelines of the sod-turning ceremony for the construction of Demerara Bank Limited’s multi-million-dollar complex at Leonora, West Coast Demerara, Region Three, on Thursday.

Ali said that one of the initiatives government will soon explore is the operation of a state-managed sand mining facility to reduce the deficit created by the increasing demand for sand. It is proposed that the facility will be managed by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) and the Public Works Ministry.

“It will also have to involve some partnership with the private sector because they have the equipment,” Ali said. The President noting the huge demand for sand as the country’s infrastructural development further expands, he highlighted that the proposed public/private initiative “will bring some balance in terms of the prices as the boom in construction will put pressure on the supply side as demand is increasing rapidly.”

The Head of State reminded that the country is currently facing shortages of plywood, sheetrock, and other materials. As such, he noted that the shortages are a result of Guyana’s aggressive national housing initiative, hotels, and other infrastructural development.

“The problem is even on the international market now. There’s a shortage of plywood, sheetrock, so these are some of the challenges we were faced with,” he said.

Ali in acknowledging the temporary challenges contractors are experiencing, he explained that his administration is monitoring the situation, and working closely with major private sector operatives to reduce the delay in supply. Commenting on the plywood, the President stressed that he was assured by Barama Company Limited, that efforts will be made to balance supply within three weeks.

“They [Barama Company] have assured me that because of the rain, they had implications in the supply from both of the factories, and that they are going to redouble their efforts to get the supply of log into the factory to bring the situation to some sort of balance,” he revealed.

Ali disclosed that as part of its emergency budget in September 2020, the Government had announced the removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) from locally produced building and construction materials including sand, stone, concrete blocks, plywood and logs. The President added that in April 2022, the administration announced the removal of VAT from cement.