Local Content Boost…Guyana, UAE to partner on US$5M concrete manufacturing technology

Oct 20, 2021 News

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Kaieteur News – Smart City Clearing Company Ltd was pleased to announce yesterday that it has facilitated the first Manufacturing International Joint Venture partnership and Investment between Guyana and the United Arab Emirates.

Guyanese-based Engineering, Procurement, and Construction firm Global Infrastructure Solutions Guyana Inc and Undiome Global DWC LLC, an Emirati owned company, have agreed to partner to develop a 20,000 square foot manufacturing facility to bring Unidome’s state of the art voided slab manufacturing technology to Guyana.

At a signing ceremony held yesterday at Unidome Global’s MENA headquarters, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was executed between Khalid Al-Qaqa, CEO Unidome Global DWC LLC and Troy Phillips, CEO of Global Infrastructure Guyana Inc. This activity was facilitated by Steven Jasmin and Major Gavin Singh, Managing Directors of the Guyana focused Merchant Bank, Smart City Clearing Company Ltd. and its Guyana Affiliate Sc3 Guyana Inc.

The ceremony was attended by representatives from both the Government of Guyana and The Emirati Government. The Guyana delegation was led by Dr. Peter Ramsaroop, Chief Investment Officer of the Guyana Office for Foreign Investment (Go-Invest), and representatives from the Guyana Private Sector, including Mr. Paul Cheong, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, and Captain Gerald “Gerry” Gouveia Jr., Senior Vice President of the Georgetown Chamber of Industry and Commerce (GCCI). Appearing on behalf of the Dubai South Logistics District was CEO, Mohsen Ahmad, and Director of Business Development, Logistics Dubai South, Mr. Tari Badri.

Kaieteur News understands that the US$5M investment will allow for the ability to create Unidome’s state of the art biaxial voided slab technology in Guyana, which will be used to help build and develop key infrastructure needed for the development of Guyana’s burgeoning oil and gas industry. It was noted that 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.
Guyana Office for Foreign Investment CEO, Dr. Peter Ramsaroop, stated, “With many shore bases coming on line and over 2,000 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”.

Global Infrastructure Solutions CEO, Troy Phillips, added, “Global Infrastructure Solutions is honored to take part in this historic event, as we work together to bring best practices and unique technologies to Guyana”.

As a part of the Government of Guyana’s goal to help offset and develop a “Green Guyana” and in conjunction with President, Dr. Irfaan Ali’s, commitment to supporting investments centered around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Steven Jasmin, Managing Director of Smart City Clearing Company Ltd. and its affiliate Sc3 Guyana Inc. added, “Unidome’s cost effective and environmentally friendly technology will both help reduce the cost of infrastructure development, while simultaneously helping to foster Guyana’s net zero emission goals”.

This newspaper understands that the Unidome technology helps to limit one of the largest contributors to carbon dioxide (C02) emissions in the construction industry by decreasing the total amount of concrete needed in projects where it is incorporated. It does this by creating biaxial voided slabs that are lighter and allow for greater distance between a building’s structural columns. In fact, this newspaper understands that one container of Unidome eliminates 30 truckloads of concrete, which helps to reduce construction costs by almost 30%, while greatly reducing the amount of C02 emissions that each new project generates.

Sherwin Sandy from Guyanese based Sandcorp Development Inc., who was in attendance, and will be helping develop the Guyanese-based manufacturing facility as part of a large industrial park being developed in conjunction with Acarai Properties Guyana Inc. stated, “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 as one of the founding tenants of a new industrial park that we are in the process of conceptualizing and developing to help support Guyana’s growth.”

Because of global supply chain issues and to help lessen Unidome’s carbon footprint, the choice was made to establish operations in Guyana to service not only Guyana, but the Caribbean region. “Unidome is quickly growing its global footprint, and as it finalizes the development of its 4th plant in Egypt, we saw the opportunity to establish a facility in the world’s fastest growing economy – Guyana, South America,” says Unidome Global DWC’s CEO, Khalid Al-Qaqa, in a statement during today’s signing ceremony.

As leader of one of the fastest growing trade zones in the world, Mohsen Ahmad, CEO of Dubai South Logistics District, where Unidome headquarters and manufacturing facility is based, said “As part of our efforts to develop bilateral relations with countries from around the world that would benefit from our respective economies and establish new trade routes, we are pleased to be sharing our expertise and best practices with Guyana.” He further expressed his gratitude and excitement for this partnership as the Dubai South Free Zone continues its journey to be the center of commerce and trade both regionally and globally.

This investment is just one of the many links being built between Guyana and the Middle East. Smart City Clearing Company Managing Director, Gavin Singh, reiterated the importance of the ceremony stating, “I choose to measure the success of today’s ceremony by the impact we will be able to make on Guyana over the coming decade, not just for the people but also the environment”.

The announcement and signing ceremony are part of the Government of Guyana’s State visit to the Emirates, which is taking place this week as the countries seek to work together and evaluate numerous mutually beneficial investment opportunities that will enable the sharing of knowledge, experience, and resources and best practices between the two oil producing nations.

 

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