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THIS IS CRAZINESS!

Mar 12, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

I am disappointed with the Ministry of Agriculture. They are going to set up a market between the stadium and the Princess Hotel.
Why a market? If they are really serious about promoting agriculture why not establish a chicken run or a cow pasture so that the heavy scent of either chicken litter or cow manure can perfume the air with its fragrance and give the many fans who are attending international cricket matches and the casino something to remember Guyana with for all time.
If there is any reason why we should never again put power in the hands of little children it is precisely because of suggestions such as that which have been made to convert the land between the Princess Hotel and the Stadium into a market.
This is unbelievable. Two of the showpieces of Guyana are the Princess Hotel and the National Stadium located at Providence. These are structures which Guyana can point to show the progress that has been made since 2006. They are places that signal to foreigners that Guyana has improved and have facilities that can match other countries in the Caribbean and further afield.
In between the hotel and the stadium is a large piece of land which is used as parking lot for the vehicles during the hosting of international cricket. For major tournaments, for security reasons, vehicles are not allowed within a specified perimeter of the ground. The large piece of land is therefore used as parking lot during these matches. In any event, the parking lot within the National Stadium is too small to accommodate the thousands of vehicles whenever there is a major international fixture at the ground.
Now why then would the Ministry of Agriculture be proposing to erect a market in between the best international hotel in Guyana and the best sporting venue in the country? We all know what a local bazaar looks like. It will be unsightly, nasty and an eyesore. Vendors will encroach onto the Public Road and carts and ramshackle stalls will be erected all over.
Is this what the authorities want? Is this how we are going to promote local tourism? Is this going to be good for the Princess Hotel? Buddy Shivraj was wooed into investing billions of dollars into the hotel so that Guyana could host Cricket World Cup. Other investors made similar investments. They were told that the cricket would lead to good business. Well the business flopped even before the cricket ended and many were left with debts on their hands.
Buddy had to sell the hotel to a consortium. This grouping has now spent millions on erecting a casino in the hope of attracting guests to the hotel so as to revive its fortunes. Now which guest is going to want to come to stay at a hotel when right next door will be an unsightly and nasty market?
Instead of playing the slot machines and patronizing the hotel, the guests are going to pack their bags quickly and get out of town.
How is it that the government can encourage investors to put their money into major investments in Guyana and then turn around and destroy those investments with brain-dead ideas such as erecting a market next to a major hotel?
All foreign investors who have projects in Guyana should take note of this announcement that the land next to Princess Hotel will be used as a market tarmac. How more ridiculous can the government get than to want to put a market next to a major hotel? Why erect a market tarmac next to the Stadium?
If there is a need for a market on the East Bank of Demerara, it should be located near Diamond, not near the stadium. This will of course be bad news for the markets in the city, especially the Stabroek and La Penitence markets, since persons come from as far as Providence to shop at these two city markets.
Understandably the Diamond area is growing rapidly and there is definitely a need for an expanded market. But surely this ought to have been something that should have been contemplated when the massive housing scheme was being designed.
If it was not done, then a site has to be found. That site should NOT be Providence.

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