Not satisfied with government’s answers surrounding the deal for the lease of the Carifesta Avenue lands to Qatari company – Qatar Assets Group Inc – for the development of a hotel here, APNU+AFC parliamentarian, David Patterson, says he will again go to the House in hopes of getting information for the public on the US multimillion-dollar agreement.
“When the Finance Minister [Dr Ashni Singh] was asked about the lease agreement, he was very disrespectful to the Parliament in his answers, dismissively saying it is public and we know where to find it. So I have informally and will formally ask the Parliament to help me find it,” Patterson told Stabroek News yesterday.
“I am not satisfied with what he said; that it is a public document. So I am asking the Parliament for a copy of it and I will await their response. This is an important issue for the people of this country. Those grounds have been sports grounds for almost 60 years. I mean, the least the government could do is say what benefits would be derived,” he added.
Last week Monday, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh, responded in writing and orally to questions asked by Patterson on the issue, which Patterson had asked through Parliament in July of this year.
Among the questions Patterson had asked were if the Minister of Finance could state the method of transfer of ownership for the lands, and if it was leased to provide the National Assembly with a copy of the lease agreement.
Singh responded that a lease has been issued to the Qatar Assets Group Inc for the development of the US$300 million Georgetown Seafront Resort and Convention Centre, on the controversial lands at Carifesta Avenue in Georgetown.
The lands in question encompass the Guyana National Service (GNS) and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) sports grounds, which the City Council claims as municipal property. However, the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) maintains that the lands are state-owned.
To the question of provision of the agreement to the House, Singh said the agreement is “a public document” and can be accessed from the respective agency.
In a written response to Patterson, Singh also clarified that no concessional agreements were signed between the government and Qatar Assets Group or its subsidiaries for the use of the grounds. “There are no concessional Agreements,” was the response to the question.
Questioned on if any Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was done prior to the vesting of the lands and singing of any concessional agreement, Singh said, “I am advised that an application has been submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency for approval.”
And where Patterson asked if a feasibility study was done, Singh responded that, “This is a privately financed project.”
In response to another question from Patterson, Singh stated that the “current scope” of the project does not extend beyond the GNS and NIS grounds. Patterson had asked whether the final scope of the project would include additional spaces, namely the National Park and the St Stanislaus College Sports Ground.
The day after the questions were answered in Parliament, Mayor of Georgetown, Alfred Mentore, confirmed that no meeting had yet taken place between the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and Qatar Assets Group regarding the disputed Carifesta Avenue lands.
Mentore had attributed the delay to scheduling conflicts and expressed uncertainty about whether the meeting will proceed. When asked if he was aware of these developments which were highlighted in Parliament, Mentore stated that he had only recently been informed of what was revealed in Parliament.
