SELLERS, TAKERS AND GIVERS

Jun 07, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The other day I was approached by a friend who asked me whether I knew the identity of the investor that was supposed to have built the big hotel in Kingston.
I replied, “I don’t know anything about that.”
He then asked whether the land in question was sold, leased or in any way encumbered.
I could provide no answers to that as well. I don’t know who the land was sold to, if it was sold. I do not know whether now that the deal is on the backburner whether someone else will get the land.
What I do know is that a great many State properties are being sold by the government. Just why this is happening, I do not know. But the time the government is finished, within two years the government may have divested all properties.

First, they “gave away” a piece of prime industrial real estate. We are still are not sure what were the exact terms on which this property was disposed of.
On top of that give away, they gave duty free concessions. They even gave concessions on toilet bowls. That one though is understandable considering the strain that would be placed on the city’s sewage system by what was coming out of that give away.
Then they gave away tax holidays. Is a lot of giving taking place! Even BOSAI, which is now retrenching workers, got a tax holiday.
We have now effectively denationalized most of the commanding heights of the economy. The bauxite industry is now totally in the hands of Russians and Chinese investors. They all got tax holidays, and they are all laying off workers at the moment.

In the forestry sector, foreign companies are ravaging our timber species and allowed to export logs even though adding value is supposed to be a key element of our national development strategy.
The sugar industry is still in the hands of the government but from the way things are going, the question to be asked is, “For how long will it remain so?” I am sure some big wig has his eye on that industry and one day Guyana will wake up to the news that the sugar industry has been sold to a private individual.
Just as how one day we will wake up and be told that the government’s shares in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company has been sold. At least for that one we got advance notice about the sale. But we are still to be advised as to a proper reason why these valuable shares have to be sold. I wonder who will buy these shares.

I have a name in mind. This person has been doing a lot of buying in recent times and I have a feeling, you can call it a premonition as to who is going to buy these shares.
I also have a feeling about that land in Kingston that was supposed to have built a Marriott hotel. Never mind the Marriott grouping never once confirmed that it was building or branding anything in Guyana. Never mind with all the talk about openness and transparency Guyanese were never told who were the proposed investors who were given rights to the highly valuable lands and for whom hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars were spent to lay new sewage lines in the country.

I have a feeling who will get those lands just as I had a feeling about the real purpose behind the sale of the land on which is presently located the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security.
Everything is now on the auction block. The government is selling (and some would say selling out) government properties. Prime real estate is up for sale. And it is going fast.
Duke Lodge was sold. A hotel was opened right opposite the American Embassy. The government spent $80 Plus million on repairs before they sold it for $140 million. The government actually earned $60 million. In a narrow street, Duke Street, there will be vehicles parked opposite the embassy. But that is not the end of the matter because in the same street there is another building up for sale.
This building, I predicted, would be sold sooner rather than later but I did not expect the sale to take place so quickly.

I have my feelings as to who the buyer is although there are advertisements seeking bids for this property. My advice to all those who have an interest is to save your ink, paper and time. The deal is already done.
And I think I can predict to what uses that building will be put. And that will only mean more parking, in a narrow street, right outside of the high security zones in the country.
My guess is that this new sale would go a long way towards providing competition for the Pegasus, probably aiming to put the Pegasus out of business since the new owner is no friend of the government.

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SELLERS, TAKERS AND GIVERS

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