The Ministry of Housing is developing an online platform through which house lot beneficiaries will be able to select prefabricated-house contractors, compare designs and prices and seek mortgage financing from participating banks.
In an interview with the Department of Public Information, Minister of Housing Collin Croal said the system was part of the government’s attempt to accelerate construction under its commitment to build 40,000 houses over five years.
The platform will list approved contractors, the house models they offer, prices and the regions in which they operate. It will also link users to the Central Housing and Planning Authority and financial institutions.
Applicants would have to own or have been allocated land through the government housing programme before using the service.
Croal said the traditional block-and-concrete construction method was time-consuming and heavily dependent on labour, which was already in short supply because of the scale of construction across the country.
The government had therefore invited expressions of interest for modular and prefabricated houses of different sizes and price categories.
Croal said more than 200 submissions were received and contractors were being assessed partly on whether they could finance construction initially and recover their investment when completed houses were sold.
He said self-financing proposals were preferred because contractors could provide the initial capital without the government financing every stage of construction.
Two contracts have so far been signed, including one for houses measuring approximately 600 square feet. Croal did not identify the contractors, disclose the contract values or say how many houses would be supplied.
Earlier this year it was disclosed that the ministry had received 268 responses to its modular-housing invitation.
The proposed platform would cater for low-, moderate- and middle-income households as well as young professionals, Croal said.
Townhouses
Design work has also been completed for a 20-acre development that would include condominiums and townhouses. No location, estimated cost or construction timetable was given.
The ministry is also piloting standardised foundations at Leonora and Meten-Meer-Zorg for the placement of prefabricated houses.
Croal said constructing foundations in bulk should reduce costs and prevent beneficiaries in the same housing area from being charged widely differing prices by individual contractors.
The shift towards prefabricated construction comes as one company previously highlighted by the government faces complaints over delayed private projects.
Kiskadee Watch reported that Croal accompanied President Irfaan Ali on a May 2024 tour of two-bedroom prefabricated houses being built by Modular Builds Guyana at Leonora.
Croal had said the houses featured fire-resistant insulation and that the first was constructed in seven days.
Modular Builds principal Hardeep Singh has since acknowledged delays and disputes affecting some projects but denied allegations that the company collected approximately $145 million from four clients without intending to complete the work. He has promised that construction will resume on September 15. It is unclear whether Modular Builds is among the respondents being considered for the government’s new prefabricated housing programme or whether it received either of the two contracts mentioned by Croal.
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