The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has said that will hold a statutory meeting to facilitate a presentation by the Qatari group proposing to build a US $300 million hotel on Carifesta Avenue.
This is according to Georgetown’s Mayor Alfred Mentore who insisted on Saturday, “We have proven title on this property”. He described recent events as equivalent to a poker game, adding that the central government which also claims that the land belongs to the state, was waiting for the council to play it’s hand. However, Mentore said he will now await the presentation by Qatari group before moving forward as “there are things needed to be presented to the council it’s a process”.
At a statutory meeting held back in February, Mentore had asserted that land along Carifesta Avenue designated by the government for the construction of the hotel belongs to the city council.
The council was also moving to issue a cease order against the work that was getting underway on the Guyana National Service (GNS) and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) for the hotel.
While the city continues to assert ownership of the GNS and NIS grounds, the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC) holds out that they are state-owned.
In a statement issued in February, the GLSC stated that it holds Transport Number 235 of 1863 (Deeds Registry Number) 30 of 1863 (Department of Lands and Mines Number) for two plots of land at Plantation Thomas called out as Lot Number One containing 240 ½ acres and Lot number two containing 5 acres. These, it stated, are said to be shown on a plan by C. Chalmers, Crown Surveyor dated June 1863. This transport was passed by the attorneys for Phillip Charles Cavan, Neville Lubbock, Henry Mc Chelery and William Renuie of London for $1,000. The GLSC said it was not Quintin Hogg who was born in 1845 and would have only been about 18 years old. It has been claimed by the city that the land was assigned to it by the estate of Hogg.
The GLSC said that Plantation Thomas was initially very large and included Alberttown and Queenstown which were later divided by the Town Council.
The said Transport is annotated to say that Lot Number two was transported by government to Quintin Hogg by Tr No 52 of 1886. This consists of 5 acres only. It means therefore that the remaining 240.5 acres is still held by the state, the GLSC asserted.
Prior to the passing of the said Transport, the GLSC said, a survey was initiated on behalf of the council by Luke Hill, Town Superintendent and Sworn Land Surveyor (acting for the Mayor and Town Council) in 1886 which pre-dates the intended transfer from Hogg, quoted on the plan as the owner. This plan (Number 2253) shows a survey diagram that clearly defines the location of the land to be transferred, it also offers explanatory notes to that effect. A certified copy of this plan is part of the GLSC records, the statement said.
