Govt to take ownership of Ocean View Hotel

…to build hospice for COVID-19 patients, related illnesses
…no word on amount paid to private owners

Former Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, on Wednesday signed an Order for the State to convert the Ocean View International Hotel into a hospice care facility as part of Government’s measures to fight the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The caretaker Minister was empowered by caretaker President David Granger under the Public Health Ordinance that was issued in early March.
The actual order to acquire the property using the Acquisition of Lands for Public Purposes Act was inked by caretaker Minister of State Dawn Hastings.
According to the Order inked by Lawrence, the move is in order to transform the dilapidated, defunct hotel into a sanitorium, “in order to

 facilitate care and treatment of persons suffering from the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and related diseases.”
The order was published in the Official Gazette the same day it was signed by Lawrence.
The order made by Hastings for the state to take ownership of the property was also inked on the same day as the one inked by Lawrence to turn the acquired property into a sanitorium, with both directives being published in the Official Gazette, giving it immediate legal effect.
As a result of the Order, the Commissioner of Lands, “together with his agents, servants or workmen, is authorized to enter upon the said land for the purpose of surveying or otherwise examining such land with a view to the acquisition of the whole or part thereof for the public work.”
The five-acre facility, which was shut down in part due to its flood-prone nature, was recently taken over by Government in a move that it was unable to explain, save to say it was working out arrangements with the owners. This, since the administration had begun spending money to rehabilitate the private hotel — money Government later admitted would accumulate into more than a billion dollars.
The controversial spending by the administration long after the March 2 General and Regional Election has since also attracted the attention of the Officer of the Auditor General.
It was noted that in light of the coronavirus and the exceptional political circumstances, separate accounts for expenditures incurred are expected to be kept.
Auditor General Deodat Sharma told this publication earlier this week, “…all of this will be under audit after things have calmed down. But they’re being looked at right now, for a special audit when we get back to work.”
The Auditor General’s 2017 report had found that drugs were being stored on the Ministry’s behalf in seven rooms of the same hotel, which was said to be termite-infested at the time. Among the issues the Auditor General had raised was the lack of a formal written agreement between the administration and the private owners.
Since the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Government has been retrofitting the flood-prone Ocean View International Hotel at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown into a COVID holding facility.
Granger’s finance tzar Winston Jordan had told the state media that “to retrofit and outfit it will be more than a billion [and this] excludes running cost.”
This estimate, according to Jordan, did not include a purchase price, which he said is a “different matter, which can’t be dealt with at this time.”
Shortly after works began on the facility — devoid of a formal announcement by Government, the then Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, had told reporters that financial arrangements were still being worked out, and that the contractors had begun working without a formal signed contract.
The orders by Government, taking over the facility and turning it into a hospice, did not indicate any further details on the financial arrangements or a sale price.
The Ocean View International Hotel was owned by coalition financier Jacob Rambarran, while works ongoing on the site are being undertaken by another known Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR) supporter.