Latest update January 1st, 2025 1:00 AM
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Brassington dodges questions on Marriott tender process
…political parties, trade unions, and youth groups to protest today
Winston Brassington Chief Executive Officer of Atlantic Hotel Inc
Winston Brassington, Chief Executive Officer of Atlantic Hotel Inc. (AHI), has avoided questions regarding the tender process that led to Shanghai Construction Group being awarded the contract to build the Marriott Hotel in Guyana. One of the contract conditions shuns the employment of Guyanese in the construction phase.
AHI is a government-owned company established to manage the US$60M Marriott Hotel project which is being funded by taxpayers’ money. Brassington recently claimed that the project would now cost US$51M.
Yesterday, when Kaieteur News approached Brassington to ascertain details of the preparation of tender documents and the tender process in general for the project, he said he had “no comment”.
He also had “no comment” about whether the contractor would be engaged to review the employment clause of the agreement in light of the public outcry of no Guyanese being employed during this construction phase.
Brassington was however quick to express his concerns about this publication’s objectivity on the Marriott project.
On Friday, Winston Brassington, in an interview with the State’s news agency, had said that the use of a mostly Chinese labour force to construct the multi-million-dollar Marriott Hotel was just one of several conditionalities necessary for the facility’s efficient and speedy construction.
Brassington claimed that Government got a reduction of US$9 million in the bid price by Shanghai Construction Group under the condition that it could have control over whom it hires.
Initially, the price was US$65M.
In defending the contractor’s decision to hire Chinese nationals, Brassington said that the company indicated that “(it) had examined the level of skills available for the project as well as the levels of productivity.”
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has planned a massive protest in front of the Marriott Construction site today between 09:00 hrs to 12:00 hrs. APNU’s Member of Parliament Joe Harmon said that political parties, youth groups, Trade Unions and members of the public will protest the signing away of Guyanese rights in front of Marriott.
He noted that the rate of unemployment of youths in Guyana is at its highest and the signing away of Guyanese rights to be part of the project which Guyanese taxpayers are funding is disrespectful.
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