Guyana’s prefab, wooden houses in high demand across the Caribbean
Prefabricated wooden houses from Guyana are in high demand in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and other Caribbean islands.
Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali announced on Tuesday night that orders for SVG and Barbados have reached 1,100.
In the case of SVG, Ali said St. Vincent and the Grenadines expressed an interest in the product, ordering some 100 houses.
Barbados was the first country to buy in, ordering 1,000 of the Guyana-made houses to support its housing revolution.
DuraVilla Homes, a Guyanese company whose reputation has been growing due to its ready-made wooden houses, had a 600-square-foot, two-bedroom prefabricated house on display at Barbados’ agro-fest earlier this year.
Because of the large amount of capital needed, President Ali said his government intervened to ensure that Guyanese businesses could capitalise on the demand for local products.
“When capital became a problem, we sat down and said let’s fix it,” he said, noting that a contract was secured from Barbados, allowing the local players to secure bank financing.
Antigua and Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago have also expressed interest in this novel product.
With this keen interest in Guyanese products, President Ali underscored that manufactured products out of Guyana are finding favour abroad. As such, he encouraged the local manufacturers to form partnerships with each other and collaborate with the government to ensure more products are export-ready.
And according to him, the government is keen on supporting companies that “put the time in.”