Coming out of Guyana’s participation in the Dubai World Expo 2020, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a Joint Venture has been signed that will see a Guyanese company partnering with Unidome Global DWC LLC, to construct a US$5 million manufacturing facility.
The signing of the agreement took place at Unidome Global ’s MENA headquarters, between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) based company and Guyanese engineering and construction firm Global Infrastructure Solutions Guyana Incorporated.
It was explained in a statement from Smart City Clearing Company that the US$5 million investment will allow Unidome to create a state-of-the-art biaxial voided slab technology to build and develop infrastructure for Guyana’s oil and gas industry.
“This technology will become a critical building block as Guyana pursues an aggressive plan of building a deep-water harbour and a 100-mile deep-water natural gas pipeline as well as numerous shore bases and industrial zones throughout the world’s fastest growing oil producing nations,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Peter Ramsaroop spoke of the importance of the investment, in the context of Guyana’s blooming oil and gas industry.
“With many shore bases coming on line and over 2000 hotel rooms in development, technologies like Unidome and partnerships with local Guyanese companies like Global Infrastructure Solutions Guyana Inc are critical to Guyana’s long-term success,” Dr Ramsaroop said.
Troy Phillips, who is the CEO of Global Infrastructure Solutions, meanwhile expressed appreciation for being a part of the historic partnership, which will “bring best practices and unique technologies to Guyana”.
Smart City Clearing Company Ltd and its affiliate Sc3 Guyana Inc added that “Unidome’s cost effective and environmentally friendly technology both will help reduce the cost of infrastructure development while simultaneously helping to foster Guyana’s net zero emission goals.”
Sherwin Sandy of Guyanese-based Sandcorp Development Inc, who was in attendance, will be helping to develop the Unidome Manufacturing facility as part of a large industrial park that is being developed in conjunction with Acarai Properties Guyana Incorporated. He expressed excitement at the initiative.
“Historically Guyana couldn’t afford to attract light manufacturing, I am excited to be working with both Global Infrastructure Solutions Guyana Inc and Unidome Global DWC LLC to be one of the founding tenants of a new industrial park that we are in the process of conceptualising and developing to help support Guyana’s growth,” he said.
It was explained that the operations will service not only Guyana but the Caribbean region. Unidome Global CEO Khalid Al-Qaqa noted that the decision was taken to establish the facility in Guyana, which he described as the world’s fastest growing economy.
The Unidome technology works by limiting one of the largest contributors to CO2 emissions in the construction industry by decreasing the total amount of concrete needed in projects for which it is used.
“It does this by creating biaxial voided slabs that are lighter and allow for greater distance between a building’s structural columns. One container of Unidome eliminates 30 truckloads of concrete which helps to reduce construction costs by almost 30 per cent and greatly reducing the amount of CO2 emissions that each new project generates,” the company said in its statement.
The ceremony was attended by representatives from both the Government of Guyana as well as The Emirati Government. The Guyana delegation was led by Dr Ramsaroop and representatives from the Guyana Private Sector including Chairman of the Private Sector Commission Paul Cheong and Senior Vice President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Captain Gerald “Gerry” Gouveia Jr.
Appearing on behalf of the Dubai South Logistics District was CEO Mohsen Ahmad as well as Director of Business Development, Logistics Dubai South, Tari Badri. The agreement comes in the wake of the President Dr Irfaan Ali-led delegation to the Dubai World Expo 2020.
