The subsidiary of the Chinese company that won the contract to build the Marriott Hotel here has been at the centre of much controversy in neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago with allegations that it benefitted from favourable treatment from the previous Patrick Manning-led administration.
On Sunday, President Bharrat Jagdeo turned the sod for the long-awaited and controversial Marriott Guyana Georgetown where for the first time it was announced that Shanghai Construction Group (SCG) would be building the US$51M hotel. The revelation that SCG will be undertaking the building of the project came two days after the disclosure of the secret signing of a deal in Jamaica for another Chinese company to undertake the construction of a new terminal at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri and the expansion of its runway.
SCG has a subsidiary in neighbouring Trinidad called the Shanghai Construction Group (SCG) International (Trinidad and Tobago) Limited and on Sunday the CEO of that company Michael Zhang addressed the audience. Zhang’s company has been under a lot of scrutiny in Trinidad and Tobago in recent years especially after it benefited from over TT$2 billion in contracts awarded by the state-run Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (Udecott) contracts under the PNM government, some of which were given to the company without going to tender. The company was specially selected by the PNM government to construct the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA),the then Prime Minister’s TT$250M residence . The company also constructed the multi-million dollar church built by Manning’s spiritual advisor in Heights of Guanapo at Wallerfield, Arima. After much furore in the Trinidad press these projects came up in the Commission of Enquiry that was held into the country’s transport sector. Udecott and other entities responsible for various projects were scrutinized as part of the enquiry. Regarding NAPA, it was argued that the project was funded by the government to government agreement which constituted “special circumstances”.
Zhang, himself, was the centre of controversy late last year when public documents showed that he acquired property on state lands for TT$5M after approval by the country’s Commissioner of State Lands. According to a report in the Trinidadian Newsday, the transfer of title to Zhang was made on November 9, 2009, the same day that NAPA opened in Trinidad’s capital Port-of-Spain.
When contacted, Head of the Privatisation Unit Winston Brassington, via email, would only say that SCG is a Chinese State owned entity with a global ranking.
The Guyana government has long spoken of developing a Marriott Hotel here but has struggled to secure financing for the project. When the government disclosed that it would be providing money for the project, some members of the public argued that the investor should be bearing the full cost of construction.
It is still unclear how the US$51M financing of the Marriott hotel here will be achieved. Brassington, on Sunday, said that the funding will be in the form of debt and equity and that the government will provide a minority share of the funding. He said that the majority of private debt financing will come from Republic Bank which will provide US$27M in senior debt.
He indicated that on November 16, 2010, following approval by Marriott of the revised conceptual design, the design bill contract was executed to SCG and Atlantic Hotel Inc., a special purpose company formed in 2009 to deal with the Marriott project.
The hotel is being constructed at the back of the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD) where the Luckhoo Swimming Pool was formerly located. The hotel is supposed to have 197 rooms, a large ballroom, a conference centre, along with other amenities. It will also include an entertainment complex of a casino, nightclub and a restaurant.
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