Details on Marriott-managed hotel awaiting financial closure -Jagdeo

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56530703

Details on Marriott-managed hotel awaiting financial closure -Jagdeo
Stabroek News, Thursday, October 11th 2007


Arrangements for the construction of a five-star hotel under the
Marriott brand are expected to be concluded by yearend when details of
the investors and other arrangements would be revealed, President
Bharrat Jagdeo said.

Asked who the investors were for the construction of the
Marriott-managed hotel at a press conference he held at the Office of
the President on Monday, Jagdeo said that he wanted to be cautious
about disclosing details at this time.

He prefers any disclosure on the project to be made when the agreement
is signed and the arrangements concluded at which time the country
would know about it.

The project, this newspaper understands, has been in the making over
the past two years.

Jagdeo said there is a memorandum of understanding paving the way for
preliminary arrangements under confidentiality provisions.
Confidentiality, he said, was normal in any business environment until
the day they sign onto the actual commitment to commence the project.

The President said that he would not speak on the matter until there
was financial closure because experience has shown that "companies
could make a big hullabaloo" without financial closure and then they
fall through with the arrangements because they did not get the
required funding.

He recalled as an example the proposed hotel project at Liliendaal in
Greater George-town, about which there was much talk and the investors
could not close the financial aspects for its funding.

Asked who the investors were and whether they were from the Caribbean,
Jagdeo said, "There is a range of investors, a consortium of different
groups."

"At an appropriate time when the project is launched you would find out
all the details about the people who were given the franchise to build
the Marriott and everything else."

He noted that works were halted on relocating the sewage pipes which
served as an outlet to the city's sewerage system in the Kingston area
earmarked for the project. Referring to the contractor who was
initially given the work, Jagdeo said that the government "did not
terminate the contract for bad work… I don't want to disparage
Courtney Benn Construc-tion Company."

He said that the investors in the hotel building wanted some greater
assurances about the sewage lines built around the area and since they
have tremendous construction expertise they along with the government
are working out an arrangement where the work could be built into their
contract as part of the mobilisation phase of work rather than the
government paying a separate contractor.

"This would give assurances to their bankers and the companies that are
investing as to the safety of the civil works going on there," he said,
adding that if an investor is putting down a huge hotel, the investor
would want to be assured that the sewerage system that is next to the
investment and which feeds the whole city is done to a standard that
does not malfunction when the project is finished.

He said that while Courtney Benn would have the expertise, the country
had lost capacity in civil works over the past decades because of these
types of works not being done regularly.

Courtney Benn had been advanced the sum of US$700,000 and Jagdeo said
that arrangements are being worked out between the company and the
government so that neither party loses out. However, he did not
elaborate on the arrangements.

The new facility is to be constructed in the vicinity of the Guyana
Forestry Commis-sion (GFC), the Government Food and Drug/Analyst
Department and the former Luckhoo Swimming Pool in Kingston, a stone's
throw from Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel.

This newspaper understands that the consortium of private developers,
including regional and foreign investors, has expressed interest in the
construction of a 250 to 300-room property.

The deal was apparently contingent on casino legislation being passed.

It is projected that the government would relocate the GFC to the
building to be constructed at the site of the old Broadcasting House on
High Street.

The Kingston project has been in the pipeline for over two years.
According to reports, when the investors were in the country over two
years ago they expressed interest in casino gambling to help recover
their investment. (Miranda La Rose)