A sod-turning ceremony is to be held today for a major resort along Carifesta Avenue despite outstanding questions on who has control over the lands to be used and why the government is taking up all of the green spaces in the city.
The ceremony will be for what is being described as the Georgetown Seafront Resort and Convention Centre at Carifesta Avenue, Plantation Thomas Lands, an initiative of a Qatari company, Assets Group Inc.
The Qatari investor plans to build a hotel which will have access to a boardwalk along the seawall from Camp Road to the Kitty roundabout and will do so on the Guyana National Service (GNS) and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) grounds.
This newspaper yesterday saw the swiftly erected green galvanized sheeting fence on the GNS and NIS grounds and a depiction of what the hotel and convention centre would look like once built.
City Mayor Alfred Mentore as he did during a statutory meeting on Monday yesterday again lamented that the Government has not consulted with the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) as it relates to the construction of the planned hotel on lands which were meant for educational, recreational and institutional purposes.
He reported that the council has already commenced investigations into the commercial venture, which was not made public to him or the council.
The Chief Citizen maintained that the commercial venture that is being looked at currently has to involve the M&CC.
Depending on the findings of these investigations, the council will determine its course of action on the issue.
Mentore said that he has given Central Government an ultimatum to engage in meaningful discussions as it relates to the intended purpose of the project.
Failure to engage in these discussions will result in litigation, the Mayor warned.
“They cannot just say that a hotel will be built on lands which by legal documentation were granted to us (the city) by the Hogg family and the naming it of Thomas Lands, I would have seen transports which show that it is in the name of the Mayor and City Council, so it is evident.
“If the government thinks that they can just slip away without consulting us then we have no option but to take this matter to the courts because this is totally out of order”, Mentore declared.
Former Minister of Public Works David Patterson also rapped the government for not publicizing an Urban Renewal Plan or the process employed in supposedly transferring ownership of the lands on Carifesta Avenue to be utilized for the construction of the hotel.
The Alliance For Change (AFC) Member who is also the Opposition’s spokesperson on Public Works told the Sunday Stabroek that the disposal of any state lands, particularly in prime locations, should be done in an “open and transparent manner.”
The lands were assigned by the estate of Quintin Hogg in 1887 to the city of Georgetown with the covenant that they be used for recreational purposes.
This was later amended to allow educational institutions. So far the government has not adverted to any discussions with the city about these grounds.
Patterson recapped that several officers under the APNU+AFC government have been charged for allegedly disposing of state properties at below-claimed market value.
Should the disposal of these properties, not be done openly and transparently, similar charges will be levelled on all officers based on the precedent established by the current government, he pointed out.
According to the former Public Works Minister, the government’s contention that the values of the lands have been set by the Valuation Department should not be considered “truthful”.
He pointed out that this issue is of grave concern to the opposition as the Government should engage the city council as it relates to the intended purposes of the facility.
Former Mayor of Georgetown Hamilton Green had also voiced concerns at the plan by the government to utilize the two grounds along Carifesta Avenue for a hotel.
In a letter to this newspaper on February 13, Green said: “Today I also learnt that this government plans to utilise grounds along Carifesta Avenue for commercial purposes. If true, an abomination. A flagrant violation of a covenant given to the people of Georgetown, when the City was established on the heels of slavery and indentureship.”
The plan to use the grounds for a hotel was reported in the last Sunday Stabroek.
At the Private Sector Commission’s 31st anniversary dinner held at the Marriott Hotel last December, President Irfaan Ali announced for the first time that a Qatari company was interested in building a hotel and boardwalk, north of Carifesta Avenue, but at the time did not name it.
The Head of State had said that the project would begin sometime this year and that it ties in with his government’s Urban Renewal Plan for the country.
“We’ll see the Urban Renewal Plan which involves the building of the massive hotel, conference and entertainment facility along Carifesta, commencing next year. These are investments from a Qatari group. A massive facility that will commence next year,” Ali said.
Questions have been raised about what form this Urban Renewal Plan takes.
