The Government of Guyana has signalled its intention to compulsorily acquire the property on which the Ocean View International Hotel is located for the construction of a National Sanatorium.
Work on the sanatorium is in full swing at the site.
A notice published in the Official Gazette said that in order to facilitate the care and treatment of the persons suffering from the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID19) and related diseases, a National Sanatorium is being constructed at the Ocean View Hotel at Liliendaal.
The notice which was signed by the de facto Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence was gazetted with the Acquisition of Lands for Public Purposes (National Sanatorium) Order 2020.
In an exercise of the powers granted to her under Sections 3 and 4 of the Acquisition of Lands for Public Purposes Act, de facto Minister of State Dawn Hastings-Williams declared the proposed construction of the sanatorium a public work and ordered that the Commissioner of Lands and Survey together with his agents, servants or workmen, enter upon the land specified for the purpose of surveying or otherwise examining it with a view to the acquisition of the whole or of part of it for the construction of a public work.
Section 3 of the act allows that the “Minister may by order declare ….any work, measure or undertaking of whatsoever description…whether constructed or to be constructed out of public funds or otherwise or by the Government or otherwise, to be a public work and may alter or vary any order so made” while Section 4 give her the power to grant the Commission of Lands and Surveys access.
The Order does not state how much the government is willing to pay for the property but the Act provides at Section 6 for the surveyors report together with a plan of the land to be laid before the Minister and grants her the power to either enter into negotiations for the purchase of the land or by order declare that the land or any part thereof is required for a public work.
Section 7(1) further provides for the property to be vested in the state one month after the date of the order “subject to the payment of the purchase money or of any compensation as…provided” by the Act.
This section aligns with the provisions of Article 142 of the Constitution which directs that no property of anyone shall be compulsorily taken possession of without providing for compensation for the property and specifying the principles on which the compensation is to be determined and given; and giving to any person claiming such compensation a right of access, either directly or by way of appeal, for the determination of his interest in or right over the property and the amount of compensation, to the High Court.
Additionally Section 18 prescribes that in determining claims for compensation for lands acquired under the Act, the Court may take into consideration the market value of the land on the date of the publication in the Gazette of the order under section 3 declaring the work on the land to be a public work but not the degree of urgency or necessity which has led to the acquisition; any increase to the value of the land acquired likely to accrue from the use to which the land acquired will be put; nor any outlay or improvements on the land which appear to have been made, commenced, or effected, with the intention of enhancing the compensation to be awarded.
On April 16, then Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency Joseph Harmon told media operatives that the facility was being converted into the first dedicated COVID-19 hospital in the Caribbean. He however noted that the financial arrangements around that conversion were still being worked out.
“Because it is a matter of national urgency I think that facility was made available to the Ministry of Public Health,” he said.
Two days later de facto Minister of Finance Winston Jordan indicated that it will cost taxpayers over $1 billion to transform the hotel into a specialised care facility.
Asked if the cost included a purchase price, Jordan said that was a “different matter which can’t be dealt with at this time.”
