The Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), which will be closed for 18 months to facilitate repairs, generated $60 million in revenue from rental during 2015.
Minister of Telecommuni-cations Cathy Hughes made the disclosure while speaking at an Alliance For Change (AFC) press conference on Friday.
Hughes explained that the ACCC, which is one of few major venues available in the country, has become very important to the people and government both for this revenue and its convenience. She also noted that despite its importance, if the Government of Guyana had been provided with the option, the money allocated to facilitate necessary repairs to the centre would have been used elsewhere.
“It’s not a case where we chose to repair the convention centre rather than build a school somewhere. The option to use these funds for something else did not exist at all. If we had that option, I reassure you that we would’ve struggled with the challenges at the centre,” the minister said.
As Stabroek News previously reported, repairs to the facility’s interior and immediate surroundings will be done at a cost of US$6.7 million (approximately $1.4 billion).
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Telecommunications Derrick Cummings has said that all funds for the rehabilitation of the ACCC will be provided by the Chinese in the form of a grant. However, the Government of Guyana will be expected to bear the cost attached to the provision of security for the Chinese team and the project site during the period of renovation. This was further confirmed by documents seen by this newspaper.
Since the construction of the ACCC the Chinese government has had a close role in its ongoing maintenance. Hughes explained that because of this role they decided to address ongoing structural problems through a grant, she stressed that the grant was not available for any other project.
Cummings had further stated that there were a lot of local technical professionals who supported the recommendations of the Chinese company with regard to the suggested renovations to be undertaken at the centre.
This group included an engineer from the Work Services Group of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, an electrician from the Ministry of Business, a system development officer, and an administrative officer, along with the General Manager of the ACCC.
He also pointed out that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs played an integral role in the agreement with the Chinese.
