The refurbished and expanded Celina’s Atlantic Resort has been sold and will reopen in time for the New Year.
A company official at the Kitty seawall location, who identified himself as “Mr. Hong,” told Stabroek News on Thursday that his “boss” had acquired the business. When this newspaper visited the location, work was ongoing and when questioned, Hong said that they would reopen for the New Year.
Several new buildings have been constructed and the main building has been refurbished and expanded. The new owners are in the process of hiring staff for the popular spot.
Previous owner Bernard Yhun had launched a legal battle to stay in business after his lease was cancelled by the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission, which asked him to clear the Kitty Seawall site. Yhun’s lawyer, Manoj Narayan, later said there was nothing preventing the expansion, while noting that the High Court had dismissed applications by the GLSC for Yhun to be removed because of non-payments on the lease and to prevent him from erecting structures on the land.
While construction works have been ongoing at the facility for some time now, they have been enveloped in controversy.
Former Chief Hydraulics Officer and Specialist Engineer for Sea Defences Malcolm Alli had said that the Celina Atlantic Resort building violates the Sea Defence Act and permission for its construction should not have been granted.
Alli had told Stabroek News that he had designed and built the section of the sea defence in 1968, following massive erosion of the foreshore. He had explained that where Celina sits, to the north of the seawall next to the Kitty Pump Station, was the grouted boulder slope, below which has built up silt. The Celina building, he said, is built over this silt, which can disappear overnight by erosion, causing the building’s foundation to collapse and damaging the seawall.
Ali has said that on account of severe erosion on the East Coast during the late 1960s, Parliament on the advice of he and other engineers in the Hydraulics Division amended the Sea Defence Act, preventing construction of buildings and other structures in several areas of the coast landwards from 50 feet to 1000 feet from the centre line of the sea dam. He has also noted that only in rare cases is permission granted by the Sea Defence Board to build minor structures—for religious purposes—seaward of the sea dam, and the responsibility to remove same during an erosion cycle rests with the owners.
The resort is located in an environmentally sensitive area, which has prompted questions about the danger its recent expansion poses to the courida and mangrove trees in the area. Some time ago, when Stabroek News had noted large quantities of construction material being ferried to the location, it had approached an official of the resort on whether expansion works were being done. The official at the time denied this and said only repair work to the decking and other areas were being done. Entirely new structures are, however, being put up and sources note that these would have to be approved by various agencies and the possible repercussions to the environment and the integrity of the sea defence in the area considered.
Engineer Bert Carter had previously opined that no one should be allowed to build any structure beyond the seawall, given the potential threat to sea defences while late engineer Melvyn Sankies said he thought the building was an obstruction. He explained that in the case of any emergency or disaster, full access is needed in that area.
