An official of Marriott Hotels and Resorts said yesterday that no decision has been taken on whether the hospitality chain would operate and manage the hotel set to be constructed in Kingston by an unknown group of investors.
Vice President of Marriott Hotels and Resorts with responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean, Rodolfo Guillioli told the Stabroek News when contacted in the USA by telephone yesterday that the matter was still under discussion.
“A few months ago,” the discussions on the application by a third party, whom he described as a developer, resumed but no decision has been taken owing to a number of considerations about which he could not give details. An application was made to the world-renowned hospitality chain since early 2006, for the Marriott to manage a 150-room hotel.
Guillioli said the two parties have executed a letter of intent on the project but the issues were “still under discussion.”
Asked who the investors were, Guillioli in turn asked if this newspaper did not know who the investors were. On receiving a negative res-ponse, he said he could not disclose that information and advised the Stabroek News to “ask your government.”
Nevertheless, he confirmed that the New York firm Adam Development Enterprises Incorporated was the developer who was negotiating on behalf of the investors, who are still to be named by the Guyana government. According to Guillioli, the developer and the Guyana government were in discussions on the issue.
In January, President Bharrat Jagdeo had told the media at a press conference that work was scheduled to start on the project by early February and the details of the project would have been made known at the turning of the sod.
Contractor/developer Adam Development Enter-prises has already begun the groundwork for the project in the Battery Road, Kingston area with the diversion and laying of sewerage pipes in the area.
The US$700,000 project to divert the pipes, which take care of the city’s sewage, was initially awarded to Courtney Benn Contracting Services Limited but it was withdrawn because the investors of the hotel building wanted some assurances about the sewerage pipes around the area, Jagdeo had said.
The contractor/developer has also begun to level the land to lay the foundation on the site where the hotel is to be built.
When asked last week about the status of the project and who were the investors, Prime Minister Sam Hinds told the Stabroek News everyone knew who the investors were.
However, representatives of the parliamentary political parties said they did not know who the investors were. They felt the government needed to be transparent in its transactions in dealing with state land. (Miranda La Rose)
