Silica City to facilitate climate-smart housing in development-first approach

2023 is marked as a transformative year for Guyana’s strategic infrastructural development, with its first modern, climate-resilient urban centre being the Silica City. Complementary to the capital city Georgetown, sustainable housing and structural solutions led to the spatial planning of the Silica City. Since, some 3800 acres of land were identified for the development of the new city within Soesdyke-Timehri. According to the Minister under the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues during her ‘Making the Case’ programme most recently, “We will see the commencement of construction on Silica City in 2023 and I know a lot of people are also excited about that. We have a lot of migrants who are excited about returning home and being able to own a plot of land in Silica City.” The emergence of housing schemes in 2022, leading into 2023 were reiterated by Minister of Housing and Water, Minister Collin Croal, who added, “Inclusive of that…for what we have advertised is that we have added the Silica City because we have to commence work, occupancy, and activities at the Silica City. This is something that we have been speaking about for the new city.” Conceptualised in 2013 by His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali during his tenure under the Ministry, Silica City, the project encompasses social solutions towards non-coastal urban settlement development, adverse sea-levels, and climate change as per the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). In this regard, it was projected that the population in two decades may reach 50 000 individuals at a further estimate of 12 500 households. Within the first five years, it is expected that Silica City will have the capacity to house 3125 families at a minimum, or 625 units annually.

Source(Image: The Linden-Soesdyke Highway, South America Discovered, Guyana Tourism Authority, Department of Public Information )

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5 Jan 2023 17:30 | by anaraine

| Construction, Engineering and Transportation