Mayor Alfred Mentore says City Engineer Colvern Venture was not given the authority to “withdraw” a cease order on the Qatari Hotel project along Carifesta Avenue, Georgetown and the Mayor and City Council (M&CC), will determine if or what disciplinary actions will be taken against him.
“As it relates to what the City Engineer did in terms of going against the city council’s wishes by withdrawing the cease order, yes no one authorized him to do such but only the council can determine what or if any disciplinary actions will be taken against Mr. Venture. At this point I don’t want to say what the consequences should be because I want the council to be fully involved in whatever decision made, once the issue is deliberated then you will know the outcome, because while I am Mayor and I have a say in this matter, the Town Clerk [Candace Nelson] also has a responsibility as well”, Mentore related to Stabroek News yesterday.
The City Engineer in a letter which was published in yesterday’s Stabroek News said that the notice (cease order) that was posted on the fence of the plot of land was not addressed to an individual of the Qatari hotel as certain reports seemed to want to suggest.
“The notice was inadvertently posted on the fence, by my department. Minutes of the last statutory meeting would show that I reported to the Council that, on my many visits to the said location, there was no one at the site. Also, no building or other works were being done at that location”, Venture chronicled in his letter.
He said that since there was neither the presence of an individual on the site nor any sign of construction works being carried out, the notice was inadvertently posted, on the fence. The notice was then withdrawn by Venture.
The Mayor said that the City Engineer has gone against the decision of the council as the agreement was for him (Venture) to issue a cease order on works underway for a US$300 million Qatari Hotel, Seafront and Convention Centre on disputed lands along Carifesta Avenue, Georgetown.
“The council never made any decision as it relates to the withdrawal of the cease order and him [Venture] doing that is going against the orders of the council because the decision of the city council stands by virtue and regulations of the law where the chief engineer is authorized to treat or deal with these matters where a project is being built but was not authorized by the Mayor and City Council”, Mentore said.
He continued “No project plan came to the city council so our position is that it was unauthorized, but the city engineer continues to claim that he checked the city’s transport to verify the ownership of the lands, my point is that it is not about the veracity of who are the owners it is about principles which were not followed. We saw a massive green fence going up and no one informed about anything”.
Mentore said that the council will be procuring an independent surveyor who will be able to determine and conduct technical assessments on the grounds of the Guyana National Service (GNS) and National Insurance Scheme (NIS).
The City Mayor is adamant that a professional and independent surveyor will be able to dig deeper and provide some technical directives on the situation.
He informed this newspaper that the council’s attorneys are fully involved in this situation regarding the disputed lands and will be moving to the High Court soon.
Mentore also said that it was not within Venture’s job description to determine the owners of these disputed lands but to do what was instructed by the M&CC, which was to issue a cease order on the “unauthorized” project.
The Chief Citizen noted that while the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC) continues to maintain the state’s ownership of the lands along Carifesta Avenue, the council has evidence which proves that these lands were bequeathed to it more than 130 years ago.
The City Engineer in his letter said that he advised the Mayor and Councillors, at the Statutory Meeting held on Monday, March 11, 2024, that, as a result of a decision taken at its meeting on February 26, 2024, for him to issue a cease order notice to the developers or persons carrying out works on a portion of land along Carifesta Avenue that belongs to the Municipality, he as City Engineer, conducted thorough research on the matter and he determined that authority for the lands lay with the state.
“I hasten to emphasise that as City Engineer of the City of Georgetown, it has never been my practice or intention to derail any company or foreign investors from investing in the city or the country as a whole. I am always ready and willing to work with all stakeholders to ensure that our city and by extension our country – Guyana develops”, Venture said in his letter.
The Mayor is adamant that all of this could have been avoided if the government held discussions with him and the city council regarding the disputed lands at Carifesta Avenue.
He reminded that a letter was sent to President Irfaan Ali last week Tuesday concerning a meeting on the subject but the President did not respond.
The Guyana Office for Investment (G-Invest) recently disclosed that the Qatari company (Assets Group Inc.) planning the luxury development on Carifesta Avenue will purchase the land for $2b.
