MovieTowne is another PPP project that is reality

Mar 18, 2019 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
A number of APNU+AFC Ministers were prominently present and a number of them spoke at the ceremonial opening of the US$40M MovieTowne complex at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara. As a former PPP Minister, I was proud to see the dream and the vision for MovieTowne a reality in Guyana. I was a member of the Cabinet when this project was formulated and when this project was initiated. I had fully expected the opening to have occurred much earlier, but, in spite of unnecessary red tapes and roadblocks in the last four years, the project is now finally reality. The MovieTowne owners must be commended for their commitment to Guyana, a commitment reflected by their unflinching perseverance in the face of some serious roadblocks.
While investment by local entrepreneurs is indispensable for development, international investors are critical for the economic and social development of our country. Guyana and the Guyanese people benefit when there is investor confidence which is strengthened when an investment started under one government is allowed to be completed without undue hardships and roadblocks under another government. The MovieTowne investors came in as part of a deliberate development plan by the PPP and is now finished and functioning, even with a change of Government. Hopefully, this will become endemic in Guyana and bad-faith roadblocks will not be imposed just because an investment was initiated under a previous government.
Guyanese from all political sides, all races, from everywhere in Guyana, are excited with the emergence of MovieTowne. The owners are from Trinidad Guyanese and own a similar venture in Trinidad and other CARICOM countries. But consensus is that MovieTowne, Guyana is even better than its Trinidad counterparts. As Guyanese, we must be eternally grateful that Mr. Derek Chin and his business chose Guyana to invest in and, in spite of any present anxiety about the political situation in Guyana and the challenges they faced over the last four years, I am certain that MovieTowne will be successful in our country. MovieTowne success in Guyana will encourage the owners to make further investment in our country and will be an example for other CARICOM investors to make Guyana a destination for their investments.
While relieved that MovieTowne has finally become reality, I was simultaneously amused and flummoxed by the excitement and glee expressed by the representatives of the Government who were present at the ceremonial opening of MovieTowne last Thursday night. I was amazed at the hypocrisy they displayed as they wined and dined at the opening, taking credit for a project they once demeaned and rejected. Three senior government ministers spoke – Ministers Harmon, Greenidge and Gaskin. Minister of Finance, Winston Jordon, was also present and I am told others were there too. Those who spoke on behalf of the government gave specific reasons for their excitement.
The Ministers praised the investors for bringing a high-quality, a high-brand entertainment and shopping experience to our country. They boasted that MovieTowne will be a top competitor and catalyst in transforming the entertainment and recreational sector, shopping and service industry of Guyana, giving a much-needed boost for tourism, etc. The Ministers boasted of the initial employment of about 1,000 Guyanese and many more in the future. The senior government ministers were not shy in “bigging up” MovieTowne because, in the words of Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, MovieTowne will be “good for business, create jobs and generate taxes”. They spoke of the government’s push for investors by creating an investor friendly environment, providing access to land and concessions that catalyzes investor confidence. I could not agree more with the Ministers that represented Guyana at the MovieTowne opening.
The reasons the government ministers were present and the reasons for their excitement were exactly the reasons used several years ago when the PPP Government lured Mr. Derek Chin and the MovieTowne brand to Guyana. These very reasons, however, did not find favour with the then Opposition parties, APNU and the AFC. In Parliament, both Carl Greenidge and Joe Harmon as Opposition MPs were among the APNU and AFC MPs who opposed the project, lambasting the proposed project, claiming the PPP was giving a handout to a rich Trinidadian friend.
Once APNU+AFC took control of the Government, they became spiteful and imposed roadblocks and unnecessary red tapes to delay the project. They claimed that the Trinidadian investor should have paid more for the land, even though the Trinidadian investor paid more than other investors in the vicinity and paid more than anyone else had offered for the same land. For example, the Trinidadian investor did not pay less than the Giftland Mall investor for land that is less than a mile away. APNU+AFC brought in SOCU and directed SOCU to issue charges against the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh and the former head of NICIL, Winston Brassington. Earlier, they threatened to rescind the sale of the land.
At the opening of MovieTowne, the senior government ministers, in their boasting and in taking credit for the project, provided powerful defense for Ashni Singh and Winston Brassington, even though they hardly intended to. But, by boasting of the quality of the investment, the advantages for Guyana, including job creation, setting new standards for the entertainment and shopping experience and generating more tax revenues, they provided the argument why any Government should have been eager to allow MovieTowne to purchase the land, even if the purchase price was much lower than MovieTowne actually paid. Guyana benefitted because of the reasons the ministers eloquently gave in their presentations at the opening, but Guyana gained also because, instead of getting the land at a nominal cost, as a concession for their investment, MovieTowne actually paid market, competitive price for the land.
The Ministers spoke the truth at the opening, spoke truth to power. The MovieTowne investment and project in Guyana was a good one for our country. In confessing this truth, they also exposed their own hypocrisy, their policy of intimidation and political harassment. They demonstrated in no uncertain terms that Dr. Ashni Singh and Winston Brassington, as senior officials of the PPP Government stewarded a sound, major development project that has already rewarded Guyana and the Guyanese people with benefits. Instead of being charged, Ashni Singh and Brassington deserve praise. MovieTowne should be an example of how we develop Guyana, not for some, but for all.
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

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