Clifton Bacchus, the owner of the proposed 150-room Sleepin Hotel and Casino, says he has the required permits and is ready to create 300 jobs despite attacks by competitors and others about the suitability of the hospitality and gambling outfit on Church Street, Georgetown.
“I have everything that is needed. I haven’t broken any laws and, quite frankly, I can tell you I don’t have an issue with anyone so the attacks was a surprise to me,” Bacchus told Stabroek News in an interview.
He produced a dossier of documents and building plans to support his claims and defended the Church Street facility currently under construction. The hotelier said he is aiming to have at least 60 rooms completed in time for Independence Day on May 26th.
The permits include those from City Hall, the Central Housing and Planning Authority and the City Engineer’s Depart-ment.
In a letter to this newspaper last month, attorney and former Chief Magistrate Kalam Juman- Yassin, who attends the Church Street Mosque, located close to the hotel, said he is “completely opposed” to the opening of a casino in that area which he described as residential.
According to Juman-Yassin, four buildings east of the construction is the Central Seventh Day Adventist Church while the Queenstown Mosque is approximately two hundred yards away from the proposed casino. He also noted that the Merriman Mall between “Church Street and North Road in that area is being converted to a family area with emphasis on young children having a playing area.”
“A casino,” Yassin stressed “will be a bad example for our young children in addition to creating a parking nightmare and a great deal of inconvenience to the residents of that neighbourhood.” He had called for “the Government of Guyana to look into this matter urgently and stop this tragedy from occurring.”
Critics have also said that given the scale of the construction and its intended purpose there should have been detailed consultations with residents before permission was granted for the project.
Bacchus said he was surprised at Yassin’s claims since if he had checked the bylaws, he would know that the area where the hotel is located does not fall into the residential zone. Bacchus maintained that everything he is doing is well within the ambit of the law.
The hotelier said he is in possession of a Memoran-dum of Understanding (MOU) between himself and the Government of Guyana. This MOU guarantees him a licence to operate a casino once he is able to complete construction in line with several specifications.
“This land was the only land big enough for the project we wanted to execute in the capital city. I am not breaking any laws. On Church Street there are several other business entities and no one has pointed to them. There is a strip club nearer to both the church and mosque and no one has raised any concerns about that,” he said.
“I think this attack is more personal than anything. It’s my competition I think that started this. If you look at it, I run the only urban hotel facility that caters for persons (with) budgets (of) less than US$80 with five-star service and has been able to upkeep it. Now we are expanding and want to bring a casino, the others start to kick up a storm,” he added.
In addition, Bacchus said, the casino would not be catering to locals but foreign guests at the hotel.
“To me, the emphasis seems to be on the casino and not the overall facility but the casino is for the guests. It’s not like I will have a casino and every Tom, Dick and Jane could come and use it. No, this is not a thoroughfare. There is so much more happening here. Look at this, we will have state-of-the-art gym, pool and deck, boutiques and other shopping facilities. I mean come on, this hotel will create over 300 jobs and persons in this community will have first priority,” he asserted.
“This hotel facility is catered to showcase Guyana. The very casino that they talk about will be named the Mashramani Casino. It has that carnival theme, the lights will bright up the area and real estate value will go up,” he added.
Bacchus believes that the real estate value in the area has already skyrocketed because of the hotel’s presence. He pointed to four houses close to the hotel’s environs that are on sale starting at $100 million each.
The businessman said too that while concerns have been raised about parking, that will not be a problem as he is in negotiations with his bank for the purchase of a nearby property that will serve as a parking lot.
And while some residents have said that the construction of the hotel has created flooding in their yards, Bacchus disputed this saying he has helped to alleviate flooding for some of his neighbours. “Look everybody who want to be truthful will tell you, I use the earth from me foundation and I give to who yard used to flood. This is for free you know. I helped build up over there and there and there and all at the back there,” he said, pointing around him.
The hotelier said he is also prepared to upkeep the area of the Merriman’s Mall that is in front of his hotel.
He urged the populace to not be caught in his “competition’s lie” but to come and tour the facility for themselves and judge, since, according to him, it caters to Guyana’s development.
“Everything I do is for our people. Everything is Guyanese. I patriotic bad you know. The beds and furniture every, every thing is Guyanese made because we have that talent, nothing is foreign and you will see you can’t tell the difference.
The construction is our people and aside from the persons who will be designing the casino system, everyone, including from the 300 I plan to employ, is Guyanese,” he declared.
