Taxpayers’ money should not be used to fund Marriott- AFC

Jul 14, 2011 News

The Alliance For Change has expressed outrage at President Bharrat Jagdeo’s decision to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Zublin Group committing in excess of US$14M of taxpayers’ money for a private project.
This was expressed by AFC candidate for Prime Minister, Sheila Holder, at the party’s weekly press conference at Fourth Street, Campbellville headquarters yesterday.
The Zublin group is a Grenada-based company which intends to construct a hotel on the Kingston foreshore. The hotel will be operated by the Marriott chain of Hotels.
Ms Holder said that no consultation was done with stakeholders in the local hospitality industry which currently averages less than 30 per cent annual occupancy. In addition, no feasibility study was done to ascertain the viability of the project to which the president is committing tax payers money, no agreement was made public of the commitments made to the Marriott chain, nor information disclosed on the so called private partners and their source of US$28.0M.
“If the Marriott or indeed anyone else wants a hotel in Guyana, then let them go to the Bank as all local operators have done, if they believe in its viability, instead of poor taxpayers being made to bear the brunt of this investment,” Holder said.
“Mr. Jagdeo is soon to leave office and therefore, must immediately desist from committing this country’s scarce financial resources to his wild adventures. Let us put a stop to this arrogance and belief of his that he owns the Treasury of this country.”
She further said that using taxpayer funds to finance a multinational chain is a reckless disregard for the plight of overtaxed Guyanese taxpayers. “Further, it creates unfair competition to local investors many of whom are still to recover from the financial burden they had undertaken for the 2007 World Cup Cricket.”
According to Marriott International’s first announcement on the project, the hotel will operate under a management agreement with Atlantic Hotel Inc. (AHI), a company “currently owned by the Government of Guyana (GoG) as part of a public-private partnership between the Government of Guyana and private sector investors.”
However, the government continues its silence about the private sector partners. In mid-May, 2010, the government reacted angrily when Grenada company, Zublin Grenada, announced that it was seriously considering “a very attractive offer” by the Guyana Government to build the Marriott resort and casino.

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Taxpayers’ money should not be used to fund Marriott- AFC

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