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City Hall produces transport for lands given away to Qatari hotel investors
The transport provided by Mayor of Georgetown, Alfred Mentore to the City Councillors.
Kaieteur News – The Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has asserted ownership of the lands gifted to Qatari investors by the Government of Guyana to construct a US$300M hotel.
The land located on Carifesta Avenue and Thomas Lands, Georgetown was allotted to the investors for the construction of the Qatari Hotel.
During a statutory meeting held on Monday, City Mayor Alfred Mentore circulated a transport that purports to show Council’s ownership of the prime waterfront property to the over 30 councilors present at the meeting.
Mentore was adamant that the issue of the ownership of the lands should be urgently attended to and sought to suspend the Council’s standing orders to have the matter dealt with.
Several Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Councillors sought to block any discussion surrounding the ownership at the statutory meeting given that it was not placed on the meeting’s agenda.
The Councillors, who were opposed to having the matter discussed at the meeting, reminded Mentore that there was no proper basis for matter to be discussed.
The Council nevertheless moved a motion to have the matter discussed. The City Council, agreed that a letter should be sent to President Irfaan Ali in an effort to resolve the current dispute over the ownership, and usage of the land that has been earmarked for the US$300M Qatari Hotel on Carifesta Avenue.
“Nothing was provided to us on this issue. So, I see the fence is being done, and the sod has been turned, and a whole host of other things. The project document has to start with the Council.
“We must have one rule for everyone. There must be one rule for the citizens of this city, and there must be one rule for central government, and there will be one rule for investors, who want to invest in Guyana. We must not break the rules or bend it to suit anyone,” Mentore explained.
He noted that the land which was being used by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) was a gift to the City of Georgetown for recreational purposes by former plantation owners in 1887.
“If there is no clarity or no success in the hopeful discussions with his Excellency, and maybe other government people on this matter, the council is prepared to take litigation in this matter,” Mayor Mentore said.
In support of Mentore, Councilor Lelon Saul said based on the evidence before him, the land belongs to the city.
“We are claiming, and based on the evidence that I have seen, the land belongs to municipality. It has nothing to do whether this Council is managed by the APNU or the PPP. The issue is the asset, the land,” he said.
Ahead of the decision, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Councillors challenged the Mayor on the matter.
They told him that he must provide the evidence to support his claim that the land belongs to the Municipality but the Mayor said it is not for him to do that.
“It is not the onus of the Mayor and City Council to provide the evidence. We know where the evidence stands in relation to transport concerning this property,” he told the Council.
It was following the request for evidence that the Mayor provided the Council with a copy of the transport for the land in question.
Patricia Chase-Greene, who is a former City Mayor under the APNU+AFC, told the Mayor that “he was heading down the wrong road.” She lobbied for the issue to be discussed at a Special Statutory Meeting, and not at Monday’s meeting.
“I have concerns. Bring to the floor what is the Council’s plan for an area that you came to say to us that we own or that we may own, but we have never done anything other than chosen to lease part of it. There has been no development since,” Councilor Chase-Greene said.
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