Buddy’s International Hotel at Providence, East Bank Demerara, which was built at an estimated cost of some US$12 million, is not for sale, its proprietor Omprakash Shivraj said on Monday.

Since November 2007, reports had circulated that Shivraj had begun to advertise the sale of the property. The hotel was built with funding that included five mortgages from the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) and a $165.7 million advance on the sale of rooms to the Guyana government.

When asked on Monday to confirm whether the hotel was for sale and whether there was an interested Dutch buyer, Shivraj told Stabroek News, “It is not true that Buddy’s is for sale.” He said he had also heard the rumour but added that “there is no truth to it.”

The hotel was completed in time to accommodate officials, sponsors and the media covering the Six Super Eight Cricket World Cup 2007 matches held here in March/April last year.