The construction of a US$54 million five-star hotel and casino at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara is still in limbo eight months after the sod-turning ceremony.
Sun and Sand Hotels was supposed to have commenced construction work at the site in August of last year, a month after the ceremony, however land ownership issues have stalled the process.
In September of last year this newspaper was made to understand that the state land on which the Sun and Sand Hotel is to be built was sold by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) but that the company had failed to follow through on its payment schedule.
This newspaper was also reliably informed that the payment for the land needed to be worked out prior to any construction beginning at the site. The US$54 million estimated cost of the private project was inclusive of the 12-acre block of land located at A1 Liliendaal.
Stabroek News has reached out to Bhushan Chandna, Director of the Sun and Sand Hotels on numerous occasions inquiring as to the status of the hotel project and the company’s planned foray into logging, shipping and mining. These ventures were to be done simultaneously.
The site however remains barren as the months have passed by. The signage has been almost completely bleached by the sun. At some points there had been heavy-duty machinery parked on the site, however they bear no markings of BK International which was slated to be one of the contactors for the project.
BK International was revealed to have been the company which transferred both prospecting and exploration licences to the Sun and Sand Mining Resources in March 2014 after the GGMC board approved the transfers. The intention to transfer was supposed to be gazetted in April, however Stabroek News could not locate any notice of such transfer in the Official Gazette.
This newspaper was told that at times the Buddy’s Group construction division, the contractor for the Ajeenkya D Y Patil University, would park machinery at the site which is adjacent to the university project.
At the turning-of-the-sod ceremony in July 2014, Chandna had told Stabroek News that the land was already owned by the developer and the price of the project was inclusive of this. He was not able to give the cost of the land separately.
Stabroek News was told by a member of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission that at the time of the sod turning the land was still leased land and was not sold to the hotel developer.
The site was previously the proposed location for the Lakeview Hotel, a planned five-star hotel that never came off the ground. Former President Bharrat Jagdeo had attended the sod turning for that hotel in November of 2004 and was also at the sod turning for the Sun and Sand venture in July.
The GLSC had received an application to lease the land to the Lakeview Hotel, but since the deal fell through it was never fully processed.
The Sun and Sand Hotel chain is not to be confused with the five-star Sun n Sand Hotel chain operating out of India; the latter has a website and numerous reviews on travel blogs, while the former has none.
The venture was met with criticism over the lack of information that is provided on companies investing in Guyana and the connections between a small handful of firms that are consistently being awarded government contracts, Memoranda of Understanding and concessions for private development.
Eyebrows were raised when it was discovered that the DY Patil Group had signed a MoU with the Agriculture Ministry to cultivate 65,000 hectares of land in the Canje Basin without any official release of information.
The appointment of Dr Ajeenkya D Y Patil, Chairman of the Group, as Guyana’s Honorary Consul in Mumbai, was also not publicly announced. It was later revealed that both Jagdeo and Patil were awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Lancaster prior to Jagdeo being awarded another honorary doctorate by the DY Patil Group in 2011.
