On Thursday, during the opening ceremony of Guyana’s 2026 International Business Expo, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced plans to explore mutually beneficial partnerships in housing development between Jamaica and Guyana, during his two-day official working visit to the South American nation.
In his keynote address, Holness outlined clear potential for cross-border cooperation, pointing specifically to two high-impact areas: construction labor mobility and the adoption of cutting-edge construction technologies. As two emerging developing economies, both nations share the common goal of expanding affordable, accessible housing for their populations, creating a natural foundation for aligned collaboration. Holness confirmed he planned to advance detailed discussions on the partnership framework with Guyana’s president before concluding his visit.
The proposal comes as Jamaica grapples with a significant national housing challenge. Holness revealed the country currently faces an estimated deficit of 150,000 housing units. His administration has committed to delivering 70,000 of these units directly through government agencies, and work is already underway: 10,000 completed units have been finished out of the 42,000-unit targeted pipeline of public housing projects. However, systemic bottlenecks have slowed large-scale delivery. Holness noted that the single greatest constraint to ramping up construction is a shortage of qualified contractors, skilled labor, and technical professionals trained to work with innovative building materials and modern construction methods. He also cited slow bureaucratic processing of planning and construction approvals as an additional persistent challenge. Just recently, Holness told Jamaica’s Chamber of Commerce that the country will eventually need to open its doors to imported labor to keep its massive pipeline of development projects on schedule.
During his address, Holness also highlighted policy lessons Jamaica can draw from Guyana’s progress in streamlining housing administration. He commended the Guyanese government for its bold reforms to cut bureaucratic red tape, specifically its one-stop approval service for housing projects. This reform has dramatically reduced processing wait times for planning and land approvals, slashing what once took up to three years down to just three months. Holness also praised Guyana’s accelerated program to issue land titles for housing plots, noting the reform has greatly sped up access to land for homebuilders and buyers.
Beyond collaboration on future housing development, Holness used his address to extend sincere gratitude to Guyana for its critical emergency assistance last year. Following the widespread destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa, the Guyana Defence Force deployed personnel to support Jamaica’s post-storm reconstruction of residential homes and public infrastructure. Holness reported that beneficiaries of the reconstruction work have consistently praised the high quality of workmanship from Guyanese troops, saying their contribution was invaluable to early recovery efforts. He added that Jamaica’s post-hurricane recovery is already well underway, and the country is on track to fully rebuild.
This update was originally published on June 25, 2026 at 20:16 UTC by correspondent Denis Chabrol.