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By Annette Ferguson MP- Construction of a high-rise government office which will link several government ministries and agencies is expected to begin in the first quarter of this year. Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, gave the update at a year-end press conference on Friday last at the ministry’s Wight’s Lane, Kingston, Georgetown office.
“This is a major project. You will have heard us discuss this at Parliament, and provisions have been made. We have actually moved the location to give us a better deal and a better service,” the minister said.
He noted that the building will be constructed about 1 km east of the second roundabout at the new Eccles/Haags Bosch roundabout.
The complex will feature four towers that will have the capacity to hold approximately 6000 staff, built on 20 acres of land. These complexes are intended to increase efficiency by consolidating these government agencies into one location, thereby improving on the delivery of services.
The construction of the office complexes seems, in my view, to be building on a turtle back. To date, the National Assembly has approved the total sum of $7B for this construction.
During the consideration of budget 2024, a series of questions were put to Hon. Bishop Juan Edghill, Minister of Public Works, whose Ministry is the executing agency, for which the contract has been awarded.
There has been changes in the location for this project which cannot seem to get off the ground. When the initial sums were approved in 2022, the Assembly was told that the office complexes will be built on lands in the Kingston area. One year after, in budget 2023, when the Hon. Bishop Edghill was asked to provide status and what the additional sum of $4B will be utilized for; the Assembly was told that the new site will be on the Mandela-Eccles Road. That year came and went without a pile driven, materials onsite, equipment or workmen onsite.
After observing non movements on the second site location, several questions were tabled by me in the National Assembly, seeking responses from Hon. Bishop Edghill. Answers were ONLY provided in May 2024, after budget 2024, approximately seven months when it was laid.
Prior to budget debates in late January 2024, Hon. Edghill having full knowledge of the questions before the National Assembly, in his year-end review of 2023, he announced that the site for the construction of the complexes will now be on lands acquired, running parallel to the Ogle-Eccles Road. Here, I was surprised of this announcement.
In budget 2024, the Ministry of Public Works sought an additional $4B for this ‘non existing’ project. Like previous years, Hon. Edghill was questioned extensively in the National Assembly. I will now provide extracts of his responses.
Responding to questions from members of the Opposition, the minister revealed that after much deliberation the government decided to change the site location from Eccles/ Mandela and the initial acreage of land from 10 to 20 acres to reduce traffic congestion and increase accessibility.
He said, “So…we would’ve had to ask the contractor after he would’ve signed his contract and was in the mobilisation stage to wait with us until we could’ve gotten that sorted out and his procurement process and so would’ve already kicked in so we were in a holding pattern”.
According to the minister, the land has now been identified and the signboard is already up.
“We are advancing with this project now. We apologize to the nation and the house for the delays but the delays are for the good for all of us because we want to ensure that what we are doing is to bring relief and not bring in struggle,” he advised.
September 7, 2024 marks four months since my last visit to the project site. I wasn’t taken by surprise after not seeing any materials on site, workers or equipment mobilized. What i observed nevertheless is the stockpiles of tonnage of aggregates. I guess this is for the ongoing road works from Ogle-Eccles, since trucks were loading aggregates and transporting them.
In 2021, it was publicly announced that a “Sheraton Four Point Hotel” will be constructed by Caribbean Green Building Inc., at US$35M. It is unclear who or which private business company this project belongs to. Ironically, the National Assembly was informed by Hon. Edghill that the contract has been awarded to Caribbean Green Building Inc. I did my research and found that there is no website for this company and there is NOT a local office where this company can be found.
Something seems troubling here, in February 2024, via Stabroek News reporting, IDB- invest disclosed in a release said that Carib-bean Green Building Inc is a company established under the laws of Guyana owned by Tama Investments Limited and Andres Botero. Tama Investments is an investment vehicle that focuses on construction, steel manufacturing, and tourism and marine services in Miami and Latin America.
Further, SN, February 25, 2024, quoted the following from a release by IDB-Invest. the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank – said that it has partnered with Caribbean Green Building to provide US$22 million to develop a sustainable mixed-use tourism project in Georgetown, Guyana, consisting of a 172-room Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, and accompanying conference facility and retail facilities.
Accordingly, in the very article carried by SN, February 25, 2024, it made reference to the project not moving in a timely manner. This, I found troubling. If a private investor is coming to build a hotel, it is incumbent on them to have a business plan submitted to the relevant local authorities. In that plan, it will contain a detailed financial plan.
When the nation through the National Assembly was told of the Company to construct the office complexes for government, a number of questions went into my thoughts, the first being, whether the company has a capacity to run two major projects close to $15B simultaneously? However, my curiosity turned out to be correct. This is because, to date, neither of the two projects have gone anywhere.
Sheraton Hotel lagging behind project deadline, while on the other hand, not even one pile has driven for the office complexes. As I did previously, I am calling on Hon. Bishop Edghill to provide to the people of Guyana the TRUTH behind this project. It is TIME you come clean.
Hon. Bishop Edghill is on record, both in the public domain and in the National Assembly that the project of the construction of the office complexes will commence in the year 2024. These were the words of Minister Edghill:
- January 1, 2024- Construction of a high-rise government office which will link several government ministries and agencies is expected to begin in the first quarter of this year. Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, gave the update at a year-end press conference on Friday last at the ministry’s Wight’s Lane, Kingston, Georgetown office. (Inews).
- May 9, 2024- All preliminary works completed for construction of gov’t complex/towers – Edghill. (Guyana Chronicle).
As stated earlier, a site visit was made on September 7, 2024, some four months after my initial visit to the new proposed project site and I was appalled to see none of the above information as provided by Minister Edghill on two separate accounts, nothing as been done. A total of $7.6B has been approved since 2022 ($2.6B); 2023 ($4B) and 2024 ($1B). Note, these funds are from taxpayers.
Therefore, I am calling on Minister Edghill to provide the following answers to the following questions:
- What has caused the stalling of the project for the office complexes?
- List the works and percentage done as at September 7, 2024.
- As per (2) above, provide a disaggregation of monies paid to contract for each activity.
- From the $7.6B approved by the National Assembly, what amount has been paid to the contractor?
- Has the commencement order be issued to the Contractor?
- If no to (6) above, when is this likely to be done?
- If yes to (6), what actions has the Ministry of Public Works taken against the Contractor for stalling the project?
- Can you say whether monies from the $7B approved for the office complexes are being used to fund the construction of the Sheraton Four Points Hotel?
- A project of this magnitude, funded by the people of Guyana, why is the Ministry of Public Works failing to provide timely, accurate and adequate information?
Mr. Edghill, you will agree with me that this project will remain a mystery one. What is there to hide? Come clean!
I have attached images for exhibit. It tells a story, what the area looked like on May 7, 2024 and its current status as, Saturday September 7, 2024.
