The repayment of a $30 million advance on rooms to the incomplete Casique Palace and Banqueting Halls for use during the Cricket World Cup 2007 matches is being dealt with between the Attorney General’s Office, the Ministry of Finance and the investors.
Responding a question on the repayment of the advance, which the government granted to the investors of the Casique to help with the completion of the project towards the end of 2006, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony said there were guarantees that the sum advanced would be recovered.
Work on the Casique, intended to be a US$3.5 million project, began at the end of January 2006 and was to have been completed by the end of the same year. From all appearances, its future is now uncertain.
At present, Anthony said, the Attorney General’s Office, Ministry of Finance and the investors are looking at the options available. The discussions are ongoing.
Anthony said that when the advance was made available there were guarantees that in the event the investors could not repay the money, it could be recovered by other means.
The options include the current investors selling the property to a buyer who could undertake to repay the government, or the investors repaying the government from the sale of the property. The government could also take over the property and compensate the investors for their contribution to the project.
When contacted in New York, USA, recently one of the investors, George Smith told the Stabroek News that their intention was to repay the government for the loan. He also said that work was ongoing on the project.
Smith was not willing to talk about the project and advised this newspaper to talk to the construction contractor. However, Stabroek News was also unable to engage the contractor in an interview on the project.
Asked about the repayment of the $30 million advance to the Casique earlier this year, President Bharrat Jagdeo had said, “We would have to find a way to complete the Casique.”
The advances to the Casique and Buddy’s International, which was granted $165.7 million, were made from the Consolidated Fund with the sums advanced having to be laid in Parliament. At the time of the disbursement, the President had given the assurance that they would be repaid when the rooms were sold during the Cricket World Cup 2007. Guyana hosted six of the Super Eight matches at the nearby Guyana National Stadium at Providence.
However, even then, it was evident that Casique project was not going to be completed in time for the CWC 2007 events and one year later it is still to be completed.
The facility, which is registered as the Casique Palace, Suites and Banqueting Halls Inc, is the brainchild of New York-based Guyanese, Beverley Arthur, a registered nurse and supervisor of the Home Care Agency. She told the Stabroek News in May 2006 that she saw the investment as part of a retirement plan with the opportunity to contribute to the development of the country.
Arthur and pharmacists/businessmen George Smith and Charles Cush pooled their resources together to make the investment.
The plans for the construction of the suites, banqueting halls, swimming pool and business centre among other features had been in the making long before the Caribbean and Guyana were awarded the rights to host the CWC 2007. Arthur had said that they had been looking for the ideal location in Guyana and had forwarded their application to the Guyana government.
When the Caribbean was awarded the rights to host the major cricketing event, a very upbeat Arthur and the others decided the time was ripe for their investment and so began their quest. Apart from the construction of the facility, she had also indicated that training of staff and recruitment of key staff like the chef had begun. They had also begun advertising in the US market noting that what they would have had to offer was going to be different from what Buddy’s now has on offer. They were also confident that their clientele was going to be different.
The incomplete five-storey exquisitely-designed facility is being built on 5.1 acres of land adjacent to the cricket stadium and parallel to Buddy’s International Hotel, Resort and Mall. It was meant to contain 45 suites and two catering halls.
The Casique was meant to be all-inclusive, which would also make it exclusive and new to what Guyana offers at present. In addition to the suites, plans were in train for recreational facilities, shops, a gym, massage parlour and spa and business centre.
Though no one from the company could shed light on the failure of the project, some building engineers and contractors had told the Stabroek News during the earlier construction phase that the project could not have been completed in time for the CWC 2007 matches because the designs were going to be challenging to local builders. In addition, there was a shortage of cement and steel as well as an escalation in price for those products.
During that same period, several other projects were severely affected.
