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Investment in hotels in Guyana at this time not a viable proposition

Dear Editor,
The editorial in the Sunday Stabroek of October 5, 2008 expressed the view that pile driving for the foundation of the proposed Kingston Hotel may well undermine the foundation of the Kingston Lighthouse, the seawall and other buildings in its vicinity.

Firstly, pile driving is not an earthquake. Most of the energy generated by pile driving is transmitted longitudinally and not transversely. Prior to construction of the hotel, detailed subsoil analysis will have to be carried out to enable the structural engineers to determine design loads on the foundation piling, their lengths and the quantity required. Other considerations integral to proper design and construction will among other factors determine whether pre-boring will be required to protect adjacent structures from the energy that is normally generated by pile driving and could impact on adjacent building foundation.

Therefore, scaremongering tactics by some among us should not be allowed to derail a legitimate development project about to proceed since pile driving technology is available for engineers to assure the integrity of the foundation of adjacent structures in the proximity of the proposed hotel. Pile driving similar but less complex to what is likely to take place at the proposed Kingston Hotel site is now underway at a new mosque under construction at Church and New Garden streets. The engineer to whom SN spoke and other skeptics should visit the site and observe the pile driving operation and see first hand that the foundation of adjacent buildings including Bourda Cricket Pavilion and the Lady of Fatima Church across the road have not been impacted upon.

Of greater concern is the issue raised by SN regarding the obscuring of the lighthouse. The proposed hotel will evidently obstruct the line of sight of ships using the lighthouse as their target for entering the harbour. If on the other hand the Lighthouse has become derelict because of the use of the GPS navigation system by ships this would not be a problem and the lighthouse will most likely become a museum and historic landmark.

To make it a tourist attraction its view should be unobstructed from the river and surrounding area. This would not be possible with the overpowering height of the proposed hotel. The pros and cons regarding these issues should have been spelt out in the Environmental Social Impact Assessment Study. If it hasn’t then something is amiss and the study is incomplete. The pertinent facts should be laid out for Guyanese to make their judgment.

There are reasons to believe however, that construction of the proposed Kingston Hotel will not get started any time soon. The developers are still seeking finance and they have not stated unequivocally who the committed investors are. The occupancy rate for hotels in Guyana has been consistently low for some time now and the situation is unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future. The Guyana tourism industry is further negatively impacted upon by the country’s poor infrastructure (unreliable electricity supply, poor quality and quantity of potable water, deplorable roads, etc) and services generally. It is evident that investment in hotels in Guyana at this time is not a viable proposition and the balance sheets of the top four hotels in Guyana could attest to this. Investors in multi-million dollar hotel ventures want to be assured in these turbulent financial times that their investments are in financially viable projects with high and secure rates of return. It is unfortunate that the Government of Guyana (GoG) spent large sums of taxpayer dollars to re-locate sewage and other pipelines for a Kingston Hotel project whose viability and financing were fuzzy to start with and now is evidently going nowhere.

Amaila

The same could be said for the Amaila Hydroelectric Power Project whose promoters have painted a rosy picture of job creation and other benefits to be derived from its completion. It is inconceivable that bids are out for engineering, procurement and construction although no firm commitment has been made as to where the finance will come from. In these difficult financial times, Guyanese should not be led to believe that US$500 million will be committed by private funding for a hydro project in a potentially unstable developing country and that after twenty years of its operation the project becomes the property of the state irrespective as to whether the borrowed money was paid back. There is urgent need for the GoG to review its analysis of Synergy Holdings and check the credit profiles and track record of its promoters with intense scrutiny. After all, Guyana does not need another Intermediate Savannah Agricultural Development project under which the PNC Government in the 1970’s was duped by slick promoters from Global Agro- Industries Ltd. to spend millions of Guyanese tax dollars to produce corn and beef cattle in the Intermediate Savannahs. The Corporation had no experience in the production of corn and beef cattle on the scale contemplated in a complex ecological zone. Yet GoG Ministry of Agriculture took a 51% interest in the Company, laid out finance up-front to purchase equipment, insecticides, fertilizers etc. The project instead of having the significant development effect in opening up the Intermediate Savannahs and being of considerable major importance to the economy of CARIFTA went belly-up, the then Minister of Agriculture was fired and the rest is history.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan

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19 Responses to “Investment in hotels in Guyana at this time not a viable proposition”

M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett
on October 10th, 2008 6:45 am

Anybody did Environmental Impact Assessments of these projects? If so where are they?

[Reply to this]
Evan Thomas
In reply to the above comment on October 10th, 2008 11:32 am:
Yes, an EIA was done by Sham Nokta…son of a PPP former minister and current central executive member.

[Reply to this]
M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett
In reply to the above comment on October 10th, 2008 12:01 pm:
I like it!

Desilusionada
In reply to the above comment on October 10th, 2008 12:49 pm:
Touche! Must be a REAL Sham EIA then!
vijay deo
on October 10th, 2008 9:16 am

While I agree with most of the letter I would like to add a few pointers.
Pile driving do create “quakes” or seimic activity.But it depends on the geomechanics of the sub surface.I dont think this will be of great impact because of the low resistive nature of the sub surface found in Georgetown.
I think the Lighhouse is used by small boats (fishing boats)mainly to navigate in the nights.Most of these dont have GPS.
But like I said in previous posts..this is a private investments..who cares..
Also the Hydro dam is important to cushion the price of crude oil.We cant be spending a sizable portion of the GDP on the importation of oil.Guyana needs this project as a matter of nation security and prosperity.
This project might be a victim of the credit crunch experiencing worldwide.I hope not.

[Reply to this]
Caesar
In reply to the above comment on October 10th, 2008 9:17 pm:
All depends on what piles are you driving and in what soil.There must be soil test by an engineering company and a soils report forwarded before construction can commence.Piles can be sheet piling,casson,auger piles, bell piles. Certain piles have to be drilled as far apart as possible from one another to prevent heaving.

[Reply to this]
Desilusionada
on October 10th, 2008 9:36 am

While Sohan might be somewhat correct on Amalia it is hardly sound to compare the mosque at New Garden St with the 19-storey Kingston hotel with regards the pile driving issue. Soil conditions oceanside and inland are different, for a start. Also, there is an EIA for the Berbice Bridge online at http://www.epaguyana.org/downloads/emd/BerbiceR_finalEA.pdf which calls for a historical/cultural investigation (page 10). Was this ever done and what were the mitigation recommendations or interventions? Crab Island is a known Dutch site. Has any archeologist been there? Who is really doing these EIAs? Is anyone doing the follow-ups or is someone just getting paid to produce documents to sit on shelves and gather dust?

[Reply to this]
M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett
In reply to the above comment on October 10th, 2008 12:03 pm:
Gathering dust
Gathering dust
Here we go a-gathering dust

[Reply to this]
M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett
In reply to the above comment on October 10th, 2008 12:12 pm:
Thanks for the link, anyway.

[Reply to this]
SurMot
In reply to the above comment on October 11th, 2008 7:01 am:
There were no soil tests or Hydrographical surveys ever done, prior the construction of the Birbice Harbour Bridge.
Why the delay in completing the bridge, is because on the Eastern side of the construction site, which includes crab-island itself, are silted soil. At first, they were planning to re-loacte. The durability of the bridge on that side of the river bank/bed, is questionable. I have met with the Dutch project engineer, on January last on such a matter but let us wait and see of such an outcome by February next year.

Hydrological engineer

[Reply to this]
Caesar
on October 10th, 2008 5:00 pm

In a climate of insecurity such as Guyana,who with a brain in his head would invest in Guyana?Only a nutcase.

[Reply to this]
Johan
In reply to the above comment on October 11th, 2008 1:09 am:
Investing in underdeveloped countries is a way to duck regulations that are usually prevalent in more developed countries. If handled properly (big ‘if’) both the investor and the host country can benefit significantly.

[Reply to this]
Caesar
In reply to the above comment on October 11th, 2008 3:36 pm:
Handled properly. Good thinking. Aha.With the help of the politicians.I see.But, it can backfire. Like Jim Jones at Jonestown.Get what I mean.So,the fact remains the same. Only a nutcase will invest and take unecessary risk.

Johan
In reply to the above comment on October 11th, 2008 7:19 pm:
But these nutcases bring money and employment, right? Do you think developed countries were built by just the level headed? Jim Jones came to Guyana with a history. It was careless and irresponsible to let him traipse off into our interior unsupervised. Had Burnham kept him ‘under lock and key,’ can u imagine what Jonestown would have been like today?

Nutcases may be all we get, my friend. If their money is good, I say let’s just ‘eat the banana and throw away the peel.’

But it takes oversight from Government and/or Civic bodies that unflinchingly puts Guyana first, and THAT we have to breed.
M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett
on October 10th, 2008 7:32 pm

There are always people on the tail end of the bell curve.

[Reply to this]
Johan
on October 11th, 2008 1:35 am

How much more congested can Georgetown become? If Guyana was a raft, it would have tipped over decades ago. I mean, why choke a huge hotel onto the edge of Kingston when we have so much unused land further in? Shouldn’t we be trying to OPEN UP those areas?

On viability, hotels need occupants for that, and likely occupants need reasons to come here. Why aren’t we pushing to create fresh industries - especially in sport? The adventure of the recent Cricket world cup and all of it’s now empty hotels have exposed a stark truth: everybody’s running with their cup, but nobody’s bringing sugar! Look, I know we don’t have much to do anything with, but I’m sure we can be a lot more innovative than we’ve shown. All we need to do is the ’seeding’ and let the private sector pile on. And what about the GoG’s lotto take, wasn’t that supposed to be used for sports development? I’m sure there’s lots of other avenues that I’m not aware of. But I just can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t the best we can do.

[Reply to this]
BirdsEye
on October 11th, 2008 8:22 am

These types of projects are for laundry purposes, and to try to legitimize “businessmen”. The govt is well aware, of this.

[Reply to this]
Arnold
on October 11th, 2008 3:37 pm

People!! this is a Multi-million dollar Chain Hotelier Le Marriot.
Let the people them build.
Don’t stop progress remember we are 26 years behind.

[Reply to this]
bbuckman
on October 12th, 2008 12:13 am

georgetown needs a lot of pile,because it is sinking.pile and trees will stablelise the soil.
guyana needs to diversify and reginalise to industrialise.telecominication,hydro hotels are some of the main ingredients they need for internal capitalism(activity)
while the national agenda remain socialistic and human

[Reply to this]