The International Building Expo 2022 concluded on Tuesday, and according to officials, it exceeded expectations. At the closing ceremony of the expo, Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal stated that the event was very fruitful. He stated that all spaces offered as booths or stalls for exhibits were utilised by Government entities and local, regional and international companies and businesses.
The Minister went on to explain that the cost for the event was fully covered by the fee charged to the exhibitors for utilising the booths. “We had international persons who were here as a part of the expo, we had local companies, we had regional companies or businesses. So, in all, all of the booths available for this expo were utilised.” “The total booth space that was available and utilised were 356, so we had 356 various exhibitor spaces that were utilised.” “Any expo of this magnitude, it’s a costly exercise and so this expo was not run by Government input, the actual expo was all done utilising funds from the persons who would have had to pay for their respective spaces, even the extension for the for two days,” the Minister explained. He stated that the expo also attracted some foreign investors.
The expo was scheduled to come to an end on Sunday but was extended for an extra two days, which the exhibitors commended, according to the Minister. Croal, while expressing his gratitude to the exhibitors, specifically emphasised the contribution of the financial sector to the expo and the Ministry’s housing initiative as a whole. “The contribution of the financial sector, this must not be de-emphasised because their partnership with the Government, their partnership with the Ministry. And then you had a further announcement of the reduction in terms of the mortgage rate which therefore provides more opportunities for persons to make a decision, not confining themselves to what is may be considered the low-income bracket,” he highlighted. “Every time we have a reduction in the mortgage lending rate apart form the opportunity of more disposable income for those individuals, the key from all of that is that their horizon and the parameters which they can make their decision is much more available to them,” the Minister added.
“Dream Realised”
Meanwhile, speaking on the “Dream Realised” initiative aspect of the expo, the Minister stated that the majority of the house lots that were allocated and titles that were given are located in new areas in Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Four (Demerara-Mahaica), for which persons can now immediately access loans through financial institutions and begin construction.
“The areas that were allocated or titles that were distributed on the Dream Realised activity, those are new areas, for which persons can now go and build.
“On the East Coast, you had Annandale, Mon Repos, Vigilance, Bladen Hall, Stratspey. On the East Bank; Great Diamond, Little Diamond. On the West Coast of Demerara which is Cornelia Ida, Edinburgh, Anna Catherina, Meten-Meer-Zorg, these are new areas that start up. So, there’s a correlation in this in terms of the areas that we have now complete, so all of those persons immediately they can access loans and they can start construction.”
Also speaking on the “Dream Realised” aspect of expo was Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority Sherwyn Greaves, who highlighted that they have come close to achieving their target of distributing 5000 house lots and 3000 land titles.
“Our Dream Realised activity that was completed yesterday, it was in our opinion a resounding success and the testimonials from persons who would have been allocated house lots and would have received their titles only reinforced that.”
“We were able to allocate close to 5000 house lots over the days and we even continued allocating today so we may surpass the target actually,” he added.
