No Guyanese in Marriott construction an outrage – AFC’s Nigel Hughes

Feb 13, 2013 News

“Promise of jobs after completion is a fallacy”

The fact that the Guyana government negotiated the Marriott construction contract knowing that Guyanese would be blocked from employment is an outrage, Nigel Hughes, Chairman of the Alliance for Change (AFC) stated yesterday.
He said that for the government to suggest that the Chinese construction firm could not find the needed workforce in Guyana is an insult to the intelligence of Guyanese workers. He added that it is ridiculous to suggest that even the most basic of construction jobs could not be given to locals.
Hughes asserted that the fact that a Chinese workforce was imported for the project suggests the absence of an immigration policy, since workers would only be brought into the country if such workers are not available locally.

AFC Chairman Nigel Hughes

The AFC chairman said that what the government has done is to impoverish the nation further by denying Guyanese jobs on a project that the taxpayers are funding.
Hughes said that the government’s suggestion that Guyanese workers would be employed after the hotel is constructed is a “fallacy” since a hotel such as the Marriott would require skills in hotel management that Guyanese are not trained for, given the absence of any hospitality training school here. As such, he said more foreign workers would have to be imported.
Hughes emphasised that for the government to agree to deny Guyanese workers of jobs in the construction phase should be denounced by all.
The AFC Chairman suggested that the onus is particularly on Guyanese workers to take action and assert their rights on a project that is funded by the treasury.
The government over the weekend said that it got a reduction of US$9 million in the bid price by Shanghai Construction Group (SCG) under the condition that it could have control over whom it hires.
As such, the firm opted for a Chinese workforce.
The government had boasted that the project, which is costing some US$60 million, would create hundreds of jobs. Now the government is saying that jobs for Guyanese would come when the hotel is completed.
In late 2011, former President Bharrat Jagdeo officially turned the sod for the construction of the hotel with the promise that the project would create hundreds of jobs in the construction phase, and beyond, when it becomes operational.
The 160-room hotel and entertainment complex is expected to be completed by February 2014.
Despite pressure by opposition parliamentary parties and a Parliamentary motion to halt Government funding for the project, the government is stubbornly pushing ahead with the project.
The administration has so far used tax dollars to fund the project. It has already handed over US$10million (G$2 billion) to SCG. Private investors are expected to contribute US$27 million.
The government has a special arrangement that guarantees the private investors that they would get their money if the project folds.
So, if in a scenario where the project fails and the value of the property depreciates to a value below what the investors have plugged, then the investors will get back their money, and there would be nothing to return to NICIL (National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited), one of the investment arms of the government which holds its assets. Thus taxpayers’ dollars would go down the drain.
The government is participating in the project by way of equity, in the sum of US$4 million. This is being committed through NICIL. The equity contribution determines the government’s strength in Atlantic Hotels Incorporated – the company created to see the project through. As it stands, the government is currently the sole shareholder in the company.
However, apart from the equity contribution, financing for the project would also come from “subordinate loan stocks” of US$15 million invested by NICIL. Adding the US$2 million, NICIL will end up spending in development costs for the project, including design and other preliminary studies altogether, US$21 million. So, in total, the amount of money the government is pushing into the project is just about what it should cost in Guyana to complete the project, industry experts say.
The additional US$40 million remains a mystery.