Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday welcomed the investment represented by the new AC Marriott Hotel but criticized the secrecy with which the arrangement was negotiated.
“We welcome investment in hotels, we welcome investors to Guyana but what is surprising is the secrecy through which the whole arrangement or deal was struck,” Jagdeo said, noting that the action showed that the APNU+AFC government is duplicitous.
He was keen to contrast the actions of the current ministers with their response to the PPP/C administration’s decision to invest taxpayer money into the construction of the Marriott Hotel at Kingston, Georgetown.
Clutching a folio labelled “Challenges faced in constructing the Marriott”, the former president read from a collection of 30 headlines which quote President David Granger, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan as well as Nigel Hughes, Carl Greenidge and Joseph Harmon.
Each headline contains a specific criticism of the controversial project, including that it was “born of fraud” and that the contract for its construction was signed before the completion of a feasibility study.
Jagdeo stressed that the headlines in the folio showed scrutiny the PPP/C government had to go through, including two court cases filed by then APNU Parliamentarian Desmond Trotman and businessman Robert Badal.
“The same people who were saying it was a choke and rob operations have now secretly done this and sprung it on us,” he lamented.
He shared that following Wednesday’s announcement the opposition conducted its own research and was unable to find evidence that an environmental permit had been issued or that Marriott had granted permission for use of its brand.
Based on the strength of these two points, he argued that government’s claim that the project would begin next month is nothing but electioneering.
Contacted by Stabroek News on Wednesday, Head of the Environmental Protection Agency Dr Vincent Adams said that the agency received a permit application for the hotel and that it was being processed.
This newspaper has previously reported that Trinidad and Tobago businessman John Aboud of Amalgamated Security Services Limited is the investor behind a five-star US$75 million, 150-room Marriott-branded hotel, which the government holding company, NICIL, said is expected to create about 400 jobs during its construction phase and some 200 permanent jobs when it is done.
“Trinuyana Investments Incorporated of Guyana recently signed an agreement with the nation to develop a world class, iconic, select service, internationally branded hotel – AC Marriott Hotel. [They will target] business travellers to Guyana, especially those linked to Guyana’s nascent ‘Oil and Gas’ sector and the creation of ExxonMobil (Guyana) headquarters,” a statement from NICIL announced.
With records from the Deeds Registry, seen by Stabroek News, showing that the company was only registered here in July of 2019, questions about the date of the agreement and the timing of the announcement have been raised.
Further NICIL did not state the acreage or how much was paid for the land, which is located aback the former Ogle estate and it is unclear too what role the current caretaker APNU+AFC government played in the agreement.
