The new Caricom Secretariat Headquarters is a gift from Guyana to the Community, with funding provided through loans from the National Insurance Scheme and support from the Government of Japan grant aid program.
Caricom officials have always worked out of a section of the Bank of Guyana building and the Lilendaal facility will be their first official home. Ground was first broken for the Secretariat in 1998,during the silver jubilee of CARICOM and during Janet’s Jagan’s reign as president of the South American nation.
The Guyana Sugar Corporation provided 14 acres of land for the CARICOM headquarters and convention centre while a further 26 acres was put out to public tender.
Construction began in 2002 and the Guyana government spent in excess of $200M, bringing the cost of the building to approximately $1.5B. It is located within minutes of the University of Guyana and the Ogle airport, which is to be upgraded to a municipal airport. – Hardbeatnews.com
