Georgetown : With a lot of controversies by opposition political parties surrounding the construction and who are the investors in the Marriot Hotel in Georgetown, Head of Atlantic Hotel Inc., Winston Brassington said the Marriott marks the return to local shores, after 40 years of an internationally branded hotel.
Two years into its construction, Guyana’s first five-star hotel’s main building structure, and the east podium are completed, and currently work is progressing on the entertainment complex. The 197- room hotel is scheduled to be completed in August 2014.
An analysis of the new hotel’s projected operations was given by Brassington, who described it as a “Public, Private Partnership Model or the Project Finance Model”. A private investor will invest US$8 M and government, US$4M for a total of US$12M in equity. He noted that with US$27M from Republic Bank and US$44M from the soon to be identified operator of the entertainment complex, this cost is expected to outfit the hotel. NICIL is putting up one -third of the debt of US$15.5 M, he added.
The construction is being supervised by New York based, M.A Angeliades Inc., after it was selected via a tendering process. The project is being undertaken by Shanghai Construction Group which has a design and build contract. Brassington noted that several top Marriott International officials recently visited the site and were impressed.
The claims by some sections of the media that there was a secret investor was strongly refuted by Brassington who pointed out one of several previously placed advertisements which stated, “AHI is seeking to finalise its selection of one or more participants who will collectively own 67% of AHI’s equity with a total subscription value of US$8M.”
The government of Guyana will be a minority partner owning 33% of AHI’s equity. Together the equity of AHI will total US$12 million, he stated.
It was stressed that no money from the Consolidated Fund will be used to execute the project. Every aspect of this project is in the public domain, he said.
The private investor will be identified once the legal documents have been sorted with Republic Bank, Brassington said. “We have every confidence that they will conclude financing and within a short period, we hope to close on the entire transaction”.
There have been four proposals received for the operations of the entertainment complex and once they pass vetting by AHI, Marriott and Republic Bank, one will be selected, he added.
The complex will house a seven-storey main structure, an administration building containing offices, and banquet hall on the eastern side and a separate entertainment complex to the west containing a specialty restaurant, nightclub and casino.
The Marriott Hotel project is part of a five-year plan, according to government, which will significantly boost the local economy and provide 250 jobs for Guyanese.
You must be logged in to post a comment.