Sources say that the government is attempting to engage Marriott Hotels International to manage the facility with Adam Development and Urbahn Associates (ADUA) still playing a role. The credentials of the New York-registered ADUA and the persons behind it had been challenged during the initial attempt at the Kingston project but the government had steadfastly refused to disclose who the principals were and what in the track record of the company would recommend it for such a project.
The sources said a team from Marriott is expected in Guyana shortly, after which a decision could be taken on the project. The original plan was for the construction of a hotel and casino. Sources say there has also been a meeting with the Inter-American Develop-ment Bank in relation to financing for the project.
Stabroek News yesterday contacted head of the Privatisation Unit (PU) Winston Brassington on the project. While he said he would not comment at this time, the PU head said that “things are happening” in relation to the project. Brassington also told this newspaper that when the unit was ready the requisite information would be made public via a press statement. Such information, he said, would be forthcoming by the end of this year.
Stabroek News understands that a meeting was held by a government official and Marriott officials and it was decided that a Letter of Intent would be crafted for what could eventually be the Atlantic Hotel Inc. Significantly, sources say, Marriott will provide a list of possible contractors, signalling perhaps a lesser role for ADUA in the project. A well-known local company is also to be offered a stake in the project, the sources say.
When the project was kick-started in 2007, concerns had been raised about ADUA since it was felt that Pakistani businessman Michael Ahmad and an Italian Natale Barranco, under the registered ADUA did not have the construction experience with hotels of the size proposed.
However, the New York-based developers went ahead with work demolishing the building that formerly housed the Government Food and Drug and Analyst Depart-ment, the former Luckhoo Swimming Pool and a bond.
They also levelled the area, started building up the land and diverted to another area the sewerage pipes that in the past emptied into the Atlantic in the vicinity earmarked for the development.
Local engineers had questioned the quality of the work done and some of it had to be redone. Government had first awarded the US$700,000 contract to Courtney Benn contracting services limited but withdrew it to allow the investors to address the matter.
And after an announced inability to close the local Marriot hotel deal due to financial setbacks, President Bharrat Jagdeo denied in January this year that the project was dead and further noted that the sources of capital that had been identified for the hotel deal were simply no longer there.
But exactly five months after, the Privatisation Unit (PU) in an advertisement invited interested investors for the project, signalling that the original ADUA arrangement had collapsed.
The unit in that advertisement had said that the framework for the development was based on a site consisting of 6.9 acres of land situated in the northwestern part of Kingston bordered by the Atlantic and Demerara River, owned by the state and was cleared for the construction of a hotel, a minimum capital investment of US$20M and a minimum of 150 rooms.
Adam Development, with offices at 249-02 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 205, Floral Park, NY 11001, advertises itself as “a full-service construction company with experience in new private and institutional buildings, historic restorations, masonry and concrete work and demolitions. Our personnel provide developers, private and public sector clients with exceptional service.” It also claims “a team of highly professional experts that combines the hands-on, personal service of a family-owned business with over fifty years of combined worldwide experience of our principals.”
A search of the New York City Department of Transport found that Adam Develop-ment, headed by Ahmad has had just three permits from New York City. According to the New York Buildings Department, two of the three permits were revoked.
Opposition political parties had also questioned the lack of transparency in the major investment.
Then PNCR Chairman Winston Murray had said that for the government to maintain its own integrity and the integrity of the Kingston hotel project, it needed to put all the information on it in the public domain.
Expressing concern about the lack of transparency in the awarding of the land to a consortium of unknown investors for the construction of the hotel and casino, he had said that the project itself was just one glaring classical example of the lack of transparency since there was bidding for the land and no one knew on what terms and conditions the property was awarded and to whom.
Stating that he had seen no need for confidentiality in the awarding of state land, he said that the government did itself no good by getting into transactions in an opaque manner since it left room for rumours to run rife in the society which is not in the national interest since rumours tend to take on additional dimensions.
