Jamaica and Guyana to explore housing solutions

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Jamaica’s Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Thursday said his country and Guyana would explore ways to work together on housing development.

Currently on a two-day visit to Guyana, he told the opening of the International Building Expo 2026 that there is scope for collaboration in the housing sector.

“I believe there are opportunities for Jamaica and Guyana to collaborate in the housing development sphere, particularly as it relates to labour and the deployment of new technologies in construction. I look forward to advancing these conversations with your president to see how best we can collaborate as two developing nations to improve our people’s access to housing,” he said.

Holness recently told the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce that the country would eventually have to prepare itself for imported labour to support the massive development projects in the pipeline.

According to Holness, Jamaica has already built 10,000 of the proposed 42,000 housing solutions, but the “greatest constraint” to building at scale is the availability of contractors, labour and technical skills capable of working with new innovations and construction materials.

He also said the speed at which the government grants planning and construction approvals remains one of Jamaica’s challenges.

Holness estimated that Jamaica has a housing deficit of approximately 150,000 housing solutions, and his administration has committed to directly providing 70,000 through various government agencies.

He praised the Guyana government for fast-tracking the processing of titles for housing lands and for its one-stop mechanism for processing applications.

He also said he was pleased to learn that the Guyana government has tackled, with great determination, the efficiency of the bureaucracy in delivering housing approvals through the one-stop system, which has reduced approval times from as long as three years to just three months.

Meanwhile, Holness used the opportunity to thank the Guyana government and members of the Guyana Defence Force for their assistance in reconstructing houses and other buildings in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa’s devastation last year.

“I must say that the members of your defence force did quite an amazing job, and all the reports from the people who benefited indicate that the workmanship was of the highest standard. Please convey to them again my sincere appreciation. Jamaica will recover, and we have already started to recover,” he said.

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