Transforming Guyana into a Connectivity Hub: Infrastructure Innovation and Economic Growth with BIM Technology

So the first thing we want to be able to do is to become a center of connectivity , to connect the Caribbean with South America . You did say in your opening remarks that we are one of the least populated countries in the globe in South America .

Right , and as a result of that , our markets for anything that we do , must be beyond our borders in some significant manner . Yes , sir , brazil is providing us with that opportunity . So the first thing we have to do is to get connectivity .

Brazil is providing us with that opportunity , so the first thing we have to do is to get connectivity to seamlessly move goods and people for trading with Brazil .

So the connectivity from Guyana to Brazil , which is a landlocked country , and while Guyana offers the opportunity of access to water ports to take Brazilian products to the rest of the world , we have to build a road link between Guyana and Brazil . So there's a significant highway to be built , in excess of 500 kilometers .

We are now at the first stage of that highway , which is 121 kilometers under construction . There are three other phases that are to be undertaken To keep that connectivity and to justify that expenditure for a 500-kilometer highway .

The deepwater harbor port is of great importance , but then if we're only facilitating Brazil in terms of their products coming to Guyana to find our waterways , there will be an imbalance in trading . But Guyana has been building out significant infrastructure to allow for an expansion of its agricultural base .

So we've had to build a farm-to-market access roads , open up new lands for agriculture , because we want to also satisfy the ambitious CARICOM goal of reducing the CARICOM import bill by 25% by the year 2025 .

So , whether it's plots for soybean corn , to expand rice , to produce more small animal meats , whether it's goat or sheep or lamb for export , these are things that we are doing as well .

I know you did indicate that we're now participating in what is called the oil boom or the oil economy , but on our minds , significantly , oil is not going to be Guyana's future .

The wealth of oil at this particular time is what we're using to build Guyana's future , and the pillars that we are building out on is one ecotourism , because of our great forests and biodiversity that exist . We are preparing for our niche in the tourism market , which is ecotourism .

So the infrastructure to facilitate , whether it's hotels , eco-lodges , glamping facilities . So we have to get the roads , the interior airstrips , we have to be able to build out the airports to be able to accommodate flights coming in from the west , from the north , from the mid-east , the far east , from Africa .

Because of where Guyana is situated , near to the equator , it's the ideal spot reduce travel time by air and to provide a seamless connectivity to both South America and to the Caribbean .

So the build-out of our infrastructure includes bridges that cross over wide rivers here in Guyana , highways to be able to connect to , whether it's the agriculture , whether it's ecotourism . The other sector that we're building heavily and spending lots of money on is in information communication technology .

We have the language , we are in a good time zone , our people are easily understood , so the BPO industry is right in Guyana . So we are building out that . We have thousands of young people who are owning real US dollars , working from Guyana but working for companies internationally .

So that infrastructure to provide , whether it's for new bandwidth that will ensure we have redundancy , we have cheaper bandwidth and adequate connectivity is also being built out .

We have to keep the sea out from our mainland with sea defenses . That is quite a costly exercise and investment . More than 276 kilometers of sea defenses are in place and others are being constructed , so our resilient infrastructure is key . So we are focusing on that .

And then , secondly , the build out of whatever we are doing must be able to facilitate the overall goals and objectives , because our development strategy is tied into what is called the low carbon development strategy , our green initiatives .

We are earning as much money from the sale of carbon credits on the world market as we are earning from our sale of gold or bauxite on the world market . So a standing for us and our ability to breed on behalf of the world has been able to allow us to now have certified art , certified credits for sale in the international market .

We have just concluded an agreement with one multinational corporation , hess , and they have bought 30% of the available credits , so $750 million Wow .

It's not just to your point , it's just not about , you know , the , the , the oil , or it's not just about one of the other industries in the country . It's really about everything working together in concert to make things better and to continue to drive , you know , the future of Guyana .

You know , one of the things that we always want to identify , even when we talk about technology , you know , minister Edgehill , is what are some of the challenges because of these goals and these initiatives that you know the ministry is leading . But what are ?

Well , the basic challenge is that doing new things you have to make accommodation for that learning curve and in order for you to be able to learn in a low cost manner , where you don't have to do and do it over because you made mistakes , is the engaging of technology that allows you to lift your ability for accuracy to cut waste , ability for accuracy to cut

waste , to cut construction time , to ensure proper monitoring and , of course , delivering value for money , opportunities and projects . So that challenge of doing new things . For example , you would have visited Guyana . We're not a country of high-rise buildings , but property has become so precious in Guyana .

Land is becoming scarce in Guyana for housing , for office space and development along the coast .

So now , rather than building out , you have to now build up and building out , you have to now build up , and building up requires new ideas , new levels of engineering , putting in foundations in lands that are swamp , and building out 15 , 20 towers , 20 story towers , and going in that direction .

So the new things that we are doing is one of the challenges , because you have to learn it better be in terms of structural engineering designs , capacity to anticipate , resilient infrastructure in the face of what's happening in terms of our climate conditions around the world and how those are affecting countries like Guyana , where we are located .

These are some of the challenges , and it's not just business as usual , and that is one of the challenges .

And then , secondly , in order for us to be able to meet the demands of the growing and developing oil and and if you were to slow that down , you'll be losing opportunity that you would not be able to calculate over years the loss that will come as a result of that so putting in that infrastructure .

So Guyana now has a population on land and then we have a steel city in our EEZ . That's right . That's right . That's right . That's floating up off the coast Online must be able to facilitate the operation of that steel city that is in the EEZ .

So how do you see I mean to that point , minister how do you see technologies , particularly you know the term building information modeling , you know it's referred to as BIM Technologies like 3D scanning and now , with everyone you know rushing to AI , artificial intelligence and even other digital transformation processes , how do you see these technologies helping you to

address , you know , some of these challenges that you would face , or that the nation would face , in all of this infrastructure build-up ?

The contractors catered for about 20% loss in terms of material , Because you buy boards and zinc sheets that you will never use and when you cut it you have a house standing but you have a pile of waste material that basically cannot go to do anything else because it's not having the required measure .

Now , with technology and with greater efficiency and accuracy , construction can become cheaper because you'll be able to move to greater levels of accuracy . Let's talk about plumbing . You're not going to just be buying pipes and say , let's see what we're going to use .

The technology would be able to give you the correctness of measurements and all the rest of it , so you'd be able to factor your cost in such a way that accuracy is greater than what it used to be 10 years ago , 15 years ago . So embracing technology is already here and we are seeing a greater embrace .

Our people here have a greater appetite for it and that's the good thing because something could exist . But if you don't have the appetite for it , it's just another thing . But once there's an appetite and there's an application and an engagement , you start reaping the benefits .

It will take a time for those who are adverse to embrace it , but once they start seeing the benefits , all right now , when you're doing 2 000 projects at the same time yes , monitoring and evaluating and time monitoring and evaluating it is highly impossible to visit everyone .

It is highly impossible for you to be on site to have discussions with every single contractor or project engineer . But when you're able to embrace technology , you can do more and I wouldn't say it's a cheaper rate , but I would definitely say in less time . So the managing of time becomes greater , efficient .

And once you're managing time in a greater efficiency , cost is also well managed , because the most expensive commodity in the market today is not the materials you are purchasing but the time .

So you know , of course , reading the headlines and looking at the local newspaper , I understand that you , from time to time , you visit these different construction or project sites . You know throughout the region , you know , including road projects , or even the , I believe , the Demaria Harbor Bridge project .

I mean , can you tell us about the scope and status you know of some of these larger initiatives that you are and the team are leading ?

to us but you're using what you have Right To achieve what needs to be achieved . You know , one man puts it this way Success is not determined by what you have , but by what you do with what you have Right .

And I believe that , while we don't have everything that we need and it's how we're utilizing what is available to us to leverage and to certainly bring us into that level of competitiveness , because we could admire ourselves and say we're doing great , but we also have to be competitive in the world market .

One of the things that we are working heavily on is reducing the cost of electricity , and that's why the pipeline to bring in gas and the gas energy project is so key . I can give you a simple example we have distilleries and factories here that produce beverages of different kinds in Guyana , and we have a neighbor in Suriname .

We have a neighbor in Trinidad , so I can buy a product that was shipped from Trinidad to Guyana or a product that was shipped from Trinidad that was manufactured in CERN and Trinidad to Guyana and it would be cheaper than the product that was being manufactured in Guyana . Wow , okay , why they have been able to be that competitive the cost for electricity .

So we have recognized that If we're going to establish manufacturing , light manufacturing , keep cutting edge technology and information communications technology at work , at work . A reliable supply of renewable , clean and cheap electricity is our mandate and that's what we are working towards .

So , in terms of our infrastructural landscape building , the capacity for cheap , reliable and renewable electricity is heavy on our mind .

So how and you've alluded to it a second ago , but how do you envision using and we talked about construction technologies , but more specifically building information , modeling and other technologies to support the design and construction processes of these projects ?

Yes , and with going out in the world market and buying the skills and attracting interest for design build finance projects , build finance projects we've also gone onto the market to ensure , at the supervisory level , we also have the skills to manage those design build finance projects .

So contractors are coming to Guyana to participate in what we're doing , bringing the cutting-edge technologies that are out there , and those who are coming to supervise those civil works or whatever it might be , they're also coming with the technology .

So let me give you an example we have a Chinese contractor that is building the Demerara Harbor Bridge and it's a design-build project finance . But we have a European firm and it's a design-build project finance , but we have a European firm out of Italy , Politecnica , that is here supervising that and they brought their own level of technology .

I can get a project report every Monday morning .

I can get a project report from the consultant measuring the progress that has been made , highlighting what is being done , what are the challenges , and that could be easily done If they didn't have that kind of a technology , you'll get a report once every quarter or once every six months in a written form that you have to take two weeks to read and then have

a project meeting to discuss it , and the project will be finished 10 years from now . But with the use of information and the use of new technologies , decision making can be real time .

And when decisions are made in real time acquisition of materials , acquisition of skills at a timely manner you can do so in an efficient way , because the cost that you are paying today , if you try to get the same thing on five years from now , it's 10 times , maybe 100 times the cost .

So it's making sense that you invest at this time in models that help you to grow , understand what is taking place . You do multiple things at the same time and embracing what is available internationally on the market . It is no longer like it's a far away , it's right at your fingertip .

Some of the engineers that are now utilizing those technologies when they attended universities and qualified themselves , those technologies were not available , but with aptitude and that ability to embrace the ministry , are now engaging more by attending more programs , qualifying themselves with studies that are funded by the government of Guyana through the Guyana Online Academy

of Learning , which is a scholarship program that we are giving free to all Guyanese . We have promised 20,000 scholarships in five years . We were already at 29,000 in four years .

So more and more people are upgrading themselves , engaging the best universities around the world , learning the technologies , attending the programs , embracing what comes to us on the market , and we of ourselves are going out and buying the skills that are needed and bringing them here , so you can have that kind of a flow of what is available and what we are

making available because of the opportunities that exist at this time .

When we talk about Guyana's construction workforce and again you just mentioned a couple of these things but how does this tie back , you know , with the need to educate the workforce to , you know , to skill set , to increase their skill sets , particularly from a digital standpoint ? How does this connect with Guyana's national focus on digital transformation ?

The older guys , like myself , we have to play catch up now . But there's no workforce . I don't think we've ever had a time when we had a workforce that is more accessible to knowledge , to training , to capacity building .

Our institutions are also experiencing massive injections of institutional strengthening to be able to deliver goods and services at a faster rate and in a more efficient manner , and that is because there's a policy direction from government to go in that Things don't just happen , it must be driven .

It must be driven and if we're talking about it , must be engineered . If there's social engineering or whatever , we want to talk about it . But we have a government who sees that education is important .

We've just made every child who want to attend university in Guyana can do so for free , those who are studying with international universities virtually the government pays for that , so it's just an opportunity that exists .

Then we are putting our engineers and our architects and our technicians and structural engineers and drainage and irrigation and studying water patterns and whatever field that they're involved in .

They're being allowed to expand their own horizons by engaging at the international level to get those ideas , because the investment in the human capital is the investment that will help you to build every other thing you want to do , whether it be buildings , systems , strength institutions , create new opportunities .

investment in the human capital is what is key and we're doing that at this time . Yes , sir , utilization of billing , information , modeling and technologies is part of that preparing of the human capital , giving them the tools to use to ensure that they can be more efficient and build out that modern . Guyana that we're talking about .

I guess the most about the potential you know for construction technology to transform the infrastructure project delivery in Guyana . What's the most exciting thing about this ?

You have the sick , you fetch them on your back through the mud to get to a transportation to take you to the hospital .

So when you can see a person in a wheelchair or an elderly man with his skin walking out of his yard on a road joining his own car or a taxi to get to go collect his pension , do his medical checkup or to go and have recreation , whatever it is , it gives you a sense of satisfaction and we are multiplying that a thousand times a year in villages across

Guyana . And what is more exciting is that when we do that it's not just in one area .

What is more exciting is that when we do that it's not just in one area but it's across the board , in a non-discriminatory manner , in a policy-driven environment of bringing development to the coastline , the hinterland , developing the urban centers , but creating opportunities through our housing development program , because we have a housing development program that is

unmatched In the five-year term . We've said we're going to equip 50,000 families with their own land to build their houses . We've engaged the banks to give low-cost mortgages and provide incentives to the banks who participate in that . We have a very low ratio of non-performing loans because people are borrowing , they're able to build and they're paying back .

They see the value they secure themselves and the greatest satisfaction is to see that that development deficit and that's what I keep talking about Ghana because of our history and the years that we lost when we were experimenting with communism or socialism and our ideology and our alignment was not allowing us to grow and develop . We had years of underdevelopment .

There was at one time when we were paying 94 cents on every dollar to service debt . 94 cents on every dollar to service debt , which is 94% of your income to service debt . You had 6% to pay salaries , pay our policemen , pay teachers , buy medicines , provide pure water and everything else . Now we are spending about six cents on every dollar to service them .

So we have a greater capacity and that's not because of oil .

That's because of fiscal management , making tough decisions over a period of time , making ourselves credit worthy and bringing us back in line with what was considered to be normal among the family of nations , and we have benefited from significant debt write offs because we have done the right things and made the right moves , and fiscally responsible .

That's exactly right . We've operated as a fiscally responsible government , yes , sir . So now we'll be able to see so many things happening at the same time . Improvement in people's lives . You know , people used to take as much as two hours to get home from work in the afternoon . Right , a journey that is now taking 20 minutes . Wow .

So you are going to spend two hours to get home and you can do that now in 20 minutes . You have more time to spend with the kids doing homework . You could plant a kitchen garden , you could take your bird out for a walk , you could have greater leisure time .

And people had to leave two hours early to get to work , and they could now do that in 25 minutes or so in the morning rush hour traffic and get to work . So , and they could now do that in 25 minutes or so in the morning rush hour traffic and get to work on time .

You have more time for family , and when people have more time for family , they are more productive at work , because stress at home impacts the performance of people at work . So when we make families more comfortable , you increase people's capacity to breathe and to relax .

You can then work them harder , or I should dare say you can get them to work harder because there's a right to be you know , in every one of us . We want to work because there's dignity in work . Our real capacity is shown by our production , what we do . So we want to get it out there .

But if you just couldn't get it done , you were stifled , and we were able to create that when you could have families owning their own homes as against living with in-laws . It provides a greater space for developing your happiness index , and once people are happier , they perform better .

Of course , on that happiness index we must also be able to provide opportunities for better remuneration , greater benefits , whether it's salaried or non-salary benefits , so that people could be able to enjoy life at a higher level .

And those are things that we are doing in phases that will eventually bring us up on par and people will be able to say Gann is the place to live , work and retire .

It is definitely a place to consider because of everything that's you know been shared , you know , in this discussion Just kind of the last point , because I know we're almost out of time sir , what advice would you give other countries that are looking to leverage construction technologies , building information , modeling and these digital tools for public infrastructure

projects ?

They want to be able to get value for their money and they also want to get what they're requiring in a very swift . People don't like delays . As a matter of fact , the level of impatience for development in Guyana that is existing is one that drives this government , day and night , to work hard . People want things to happen . They want it to happen fast .

We can't forever be building homes , putting one block up at a time . One block up at a time . That takes us months . We must be able to come into the place of modeling and technology . We'll be able to get things done better While we're putting in the blocks , we're putting in the plumbing , the electricity , we're putting in the air conditioning .

We must be able to get all of that happening simultaneously as against being done sequentially . So we must be able to get the technology to be able to go there . Then we must be able to ask ourselves can we do this better .

Just the other day , I engaged with a company that was providing advice about the piles that we are using for foundations , how the insertion of those piles , how it can reduce your electricity bill by 30 percent . Right , because of what ?

So listening to that , you say , ah , but then get into it with people who are researching , people who have done the test in various places . You have to be able to open , be open and to examine that . Then it's going to be looking different .

And you know why it's going to be looking different Because the minds of people are thinking different , and that's one of the reasons why the best thing that you can give your citizens is education . And once they're educated and they're looking and they're dreaming and they're admiring and they're experimenting , things are going to happen .

The entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to innovate are two things you must never interfere with in your country . You must allow your people to dream . Interfere with in your country . You must allow your people to dream . If I'm to give advice to other countries , ensure your people have the opportunity to innovate .

Pay attention to the sciences , let the minds experiment Engineering , let there be the people with the technology and others . Be there operating and encourage the entrepreneurs . When you create entrepreneurs , you're not just going to be hiring people , they'll be looking for people to hire . Your unemployment would be significantly reduced .

You have more citizens contributing to the tax base . You won't have people running away from taxation . They will participate in taxation because they realize the benefits of growing their own business and development and staying within the rule of law .

So the embrace of technology must be coupled with allowing our people to dream and allowing them to breathe and providing that opportunity for them to be able to grow and develop .

You know , as we look forward to seeing you know , how BIM and other digital tools will continue to help shape the country's development in many years to come .

Again , I want to say thank you , you know , over and over again , because I know how busy you really are and just taking time to have this chat with us and to our listeners , we want to thank you for joining another episode of BIM for All and until next time , always keep moving forward , thank you . Thank you , minister . Sir , I appreciate it .

You're about to make me cry on here because I need to move to Guyana . We'll just come now . Yes , sir , yes , sir . No , we're planning , we're definitely planning another trip . I know one of the things we've met with your office before , with the engineers .

We want to continue to do that , but we are very , very serious about actually opening a business in Guyana because we see we see it as well . I have not stopped talking about my experience , you know , when I visited Maine and you were at the conference , sir , and you shared your insight . I have not stopped talking about Guyana since then .

Every time I meet someone , I say , man , I went to Guyana , it was the most amazing trip .

But it really is a story of the Phoenix that I think the world needs to see , because it's very , very positive in how you all are approaching it from all sides , not just one side , but all sides , and that's the thing that is the most amazing thing to me , sir , thank .

Not just one side , but all sides , and that's the thing that is the most amazing thing to me , sir . Thank you , sir , absolutely , I'm sorry , go ahead sir .

It'll be sometime next week that we'll get this over to you . Okay , very well , thank you so much , sir .