The laying of sewerage pipelines in the Battery Road, Kingston area for the construction of a ten to 12-storey building reportedly for a Marriott Hotels branded facility is underway.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds confirmed that the work in preparation for the hotel by a consortium of investors started on Saturday. It is understood that the investors include North American and Caribbean interests with investment ties to Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
When asked who the investors were Hinds told this newspaper, “I think it is well known who these people are.” When told that the Stabroek News did not know who they were he replied, “Another time. Not now.”
The laying of the sewerage pipes is being undertaken by the New York-based Guyanese contractor Mike Ahmad of Adam Development Enterprises Incorporated who also has the contract to build the hotel.
The US$700,000 project to divert the lines, which take care of the city’s sewerage was initially awarded to Courtney Benn Contracting Services Limited. However, it was withdrawn because according to President Bharrat Jagdeo the investors wanted some assurances about the sewerage lines around the area and factored in the cost of laying the sewerage pipes into the entire project.
Stabroek News understands that actual construction of the hotel will begin by mid-year.
When this newspaper visited the site on Friday, Project Engineer Darius Tyonminski said that a team of some six expatriate workers is in the process of laying 1,700 feet of pipelines, which are 42 inches in diameter. Once the weather holds it is expected that the work would be completed in another two weeks, he said.
The pipelines were shipped into the country along with the fusing machine but the other pieces of equipment being used were rented locally.
While the pipes were being fused, the project engineer said, other preparatory works were taking place for the construction of the hotel. These include the demolition of the building that formerly housed the Government Food and Drug Analyst Department and the Luckhoo Swimming Pool.
Last month, President Jagdeo had told the media that the construction of the hotel was scheduled about this time and had denied a January 13, 2008 Sunday Stabroek report that the negotiations were stalled between the “third party owners” and the Marriott Hotels.
He said that work was scheduled to begin at January month end and at the turning of the sod all details of the project would be revealed, as this could not be done sooner because of confidentiality agreements. However, to date, even though physical work has begun on the project site, no details have been made public.
At that press conference, Jagdeo had also announced that “the Marriott people” had told him, following the Stabroek News report that the discussions were not stalled and that they were preparing to issue a statement to this effect. More than a month later, no public statement on this issue has been forthcoming.
The Stabroek News report was based on information obtained from the Marriott Hotels public relations division, which had e-mailed this newspaper stating that there were no plans for the construction of a Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana. Subsequently a source from the Marriott Hotels International Development, when pressed had indicated that negotiations between a “third-party owner” for a possible Marriott-flagged hotel in Georgetown had begun some two years before but had been stalled.
The source had admitted that the discussions, which had begun in early 2006, had not moved from there at the end of that year. Initially, the Marriott Hotels International Development was “very excited” about the possibility of leasing the Marriott franchise to an investor since it felt that the market deserved another high quality flag and the Marriott presence would add to Guyana’s growing reputation as a serious business market.
In October 2007, the President had told the media that by the end of 2007, he had expected that the negotiations would have been completed at which time details of the investors and other arrangements would have been revealed.
The deal was apparently contingent on casino legislation being passed in January last year to enable the investors to recover their investment.
Stabroek News learnt that prior to the current interest in a Marriott franchise, a prominent local businessman had expressed an interest. However, in February 2005 one of the Marriott’s vice-presidents had declined to participate in the project, informing the businessman that this was “due to the challenging lodging market in Guyana and the concurrent difficulty of justifying a significant lodging investment in that market.”
The vice-president had said in his correspondence to the local businessman, “Marriott strives to enter into lodging transactions with its owners that are win/win and in the challenging lodging market that exists in Guyana currently, we are uncertain that we could fulfil this very important goal.” (Miranda La Rose)
