The rental of two floors at Neil Sukhlal’s Camp and Lamaha streets, Georgetown building will continue to other agencies following the rejection by the University of Guyana’s Council of a proposal from Vice-Chancellor Dr Ivelaw Griffith to rent the building for $6M per month.
“The Ministry of Health’s IDB project and (a) Bank will still rent the two floors,” Sukhlal told Stabroek News yesterday.
“So it would just be the three floors that UG wanted to rent that would be now vacant,” he added.
Sukhlal informed that there has been no violation of contracts neither will there be any penalties to the University of Guyana.
Griffith’s proposal to rent the five-storey building, so as to facilitate “pursuit of an entrepreneurial vision and to enable easy access by the potential participants in the continuing and new programming focused on sustainable development through entrepreneurship and innovation,” was rejected by the council last week.
The Vice- Chancellor had justified the acquisition of the space by stating that there was a lack of appropriate space at the Turkeyen Campus and that there was a need to introduce new programmes and other revenue-generating measures.
This newspaper understands that in a bid to promote the position to rent, a document was circulated to the members of the Council by the Vice Chancellor and it gave a breakdown of plans and overheads for renting the building.
The proposal, which was circulated to the council, said that the main costs associated with the campus were a one-time investment of $5 million to alter the facility to suit the needs of the university; a one-time investment of $4 million in furniture and equipment; rent of $6 million per month; utilities of $2,524,000 in the first year; and maintenance of $1,268,000 in the first year.
Using these numbers, rental of the building and related services would’ve cost the university more that $84 million in the first year. According to one council member, who wished not to be named, this was an expense the council decided that the university could not bear.
The Council rejected the proposal, saying that taking on the responsibilities of renting a building for nearly $6M per month was nonsensical. One council member told Stabroek News that it “does not seem the sensible thing to do at this time” and that before looking to rent a building where only about 60 students could be facilitated, it was better to “invest in a structure of its own with that same money.”
Griffith was contacted for comment on the council’s decision and he had promised a press release detailing all decisions made by council, since last week. Up to yesterday it still had not been received.
Stabroek News understands that an Inter-American Development Bank-funded project for the Ministry of Health’s Maternal and Child Health programme would be renting the third floor of the five-storey building.
When this newspaper had visited the building two weeks ago, works were ongoing to remodel the third floor to accommodate an office. It was explained that that floor was where the Maternal and Child Health project would be located.
No works, except for the fixing of a broken window on the fourth floor, were being done on the other four storeys.
A bank, has already committed to renting another floor and Sukhlal says they will continue with the arrangement although he did not say when.