On Sunday men arrived in tinted SUVs and suits to turn the sod on a new hotel project and in the process begin what will very likely be the burial of a weekly Guyanese tradition.
These men in suits are investors from Qatar, a country founded after our own independence and just like us, having the dumb luck to be sitting on top of billions of barrels of fossil fuel. Despite all that wealth we cannot recall prior to 2015, their interest in Guyana be it related to business or humanitarian needs.
Now we hear that the Assets Group will be building a sports stadium in the President’s home region. Along with the one to be built in Region Six it would appear that a stadium is the standard price for any major investor regardless of its utility. One can count on one’s hands how often the Providence stadium or the Leonora athletic track are used each year.
But we have not been given a say in this kind gesture by the Qataris just as we have not been given a say in the construction of their 300-room hotel smack dab in an area that has traditionally been a non-commercial green space. Nor do we know the identity of any local partners.
Let us bypass the arguments of whether the government is in a position to lease the land to the Qataris. One would imagine that the Attorney General has done his homework before this turning of the sod. Let us also not speculate as to the nature of any lease save and except to hope it is not the peppercorn 25,000 Guyana dollars per month the “Marriott” Hotel pays for its seven prime acres.
The allocation of the land may indeed be legal but the far more important question is, is it right?
Is this project right for Georgetown?
The President, aka our Entrepreneur-in-Chief, claims it will help attract large conferences and create loads of jobs while being a part of his plan for urban renewal. It is mystifying that someone with a degree in urban planning would believe that.
We wait to see if this monoslabic edifice will actually be built. One recalls the turning of the sod for the dubious Sun and Sand Hotel back in 2014. Nothing came of that.
But what we can safely say is that if it is eventually built it will be the end of the Seawall lime each Saturday and Sunday as we know it. Now this is not everyone’s cup of tea. In fact there is no tea or very little served there. But for many city dwellers and others, this weekly ritual is a welcome respite, a time to take the breeze – and shoot it – over a few beers, a time for families to enjoy an evening stroll no less noble than the Italian Passeggiata. For others it is a time of reflection before the work week. And for the many food vendors, the owners of makeshift bars, snow cone vendors and the kids selling candy floss it is a vital source of income.
Whatever your views or tastes it is a Guyanese tradition for many. This will have to be moved. There is no way foreigners would be subjected to the music and noise well into the night. How else will they enjoy their generic pool bar with piped in pan music, the immaculately trimmed lawns, the rum punches calibrated for maxim profit, the robotic service in the restaurants and the sterile rooms with their sweeping vistas of the garbage strewn mudflats?
And really this is where we might be missing a trick – Guyana’s competitive edge when it comes to tourism may in fact be exactly this kind of lime. Obviously the muddy waters are not it and despite the fanciful project to create some blue lagoon we cannot do much about that.
When one really looks at what makes Caribbean tourism so compelling it is not only the beautiful but somewhat generic palm tree-lined beaches and the turquoise seas. It is often the unique culture of each island as expressed through the pastimes of our people.
Look at St Lucia’s weekly fish fry, Barbados’ Oistins, Trinidad’s Maracas Beach. All are places where tourists and locals mingle and share a common space, most importantly as equals and with no entry fee and no security barrier. As such they reflect that certain freedom that is unique to the Caribbean. So many tourists are drawn back because of these spaces and the people, the people. Standing at a cool down cart, four Banks in as the sea breeze hits you and the vibe is Guyanese to the bone, priceless.
Perhaps we should embrace and celebrate more our messy urban culture. After all it is unique whereas the Qatari hotel as proposed could be anywhere in the world.
We shouldn’t fight “progress”: if this is what the foreign investor wants, who are we, as citizens, to object? But it does seem with this particular project there will be an intangible price to pay, a loss of culture, the sense of ourselves as Guyanese as expressed on a Sunday night on the seawall.
