Govt transfers ECD prime riverfront land in waning days of Administration

– NICIL defends transaction, says monies earmarked for cash-strapped GuySuCo

In the waning days of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition, evidence has emerged of the Government transferring large tracts of land, including prime riverfront land, into the hands of a few.
A case in point is Bosai minerals group, located at Republic Avenue, Mackenzie, Linden, which had a total of 1.427 acres of land transferred to it by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), in an order signed by Finance Minister Winston Jordan on June 11, 2020. In fact, all the orders were dated June 11.
The land, which has no infrastructure on it, includes 0.353 acres at the Lot 53 portion of Plantation Surapana on the banks of the Demerara River. Another 0.356 acres on the banks of the River were also transferred.
Meanwhile, NICIL also transferred 20 acres of land at Goedverwagting and Sparendaam on the East Coast of Demerara to a prominent company.
A similar transaction was the transfer of 20 acres of land, also part of Goedverwagting and Sparendaam, to American Marine and Services Incorporated. The company, located at Lot 215 Cross Street and Mandela Avenue Alexander Village, was granted the land by NICIL on the basis of Jordan’s order.
Meanwhile, another beneficiary of land was Premier Sales Incorporated, of lot 101 Pike Street, Kitty. The company received five acres of land also in Sparendaam and Goedverwagting, on the ECD, and also under the hand of the Finance Minister.
Cardiology Services Incorporated of Lot 184 Demerara Estate, Plantation Pattensen, was also the beneficiary of eight acres of land at Montrose, on the ECD. Land was also sold to Earl’s Court Incorporated, a company registered at 62 Hadfield and Cross Streets. The land, 30 acres, is located at Chateau Margot on the ECD.
In addition, land was distributed to Trinuyana Investments Limited of Lot 62 Hadfield Street. A total of 19.678 acres of land was distributed at Ogle and Goedverwagting. This company had also received large tracts of land at Ogle, for the purpose of developing hotels.
The developments come at a time when the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) has before it a huge backlog of cases and thousands of dissatisfied ordinary citizens languishing in the system, made worse by the coalition Government’s lack of ordinary house lot distribution policies.
Government is supposed to be in both a caretaker and a transition mode, where large transactions are not entered into. The governing coalition would have lost a No-Confidence Motion in December 2018. In addition, based on the recount, the coalition also lost the March 2 General and Regional Elections.
The revelations, therefore, generated outrage across social media. In a statement on Tuesday, however, NICIL defended the transactions by pointing out that the lands were partly paid for last year.
According to NICIL, however, the transaction was not complete because the vesting orders were not gazetted. NICIL claimed that the rush to complete the transactions is due to the dire financial straits facing the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), which it is funding.
GuySuCo had recently appealed to the Government for funds in order to ensure it could continue through the month of June. Already, GuySuCo has shown itself to be unable to meet its first crop target.
“We wish to remind the public that NICIL through the SPU, sold lands that were vested to it by the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. NICIL received deposits for the lands commencing December 2019, however, the transactions remained incomplete since the vesting orders were not ‘Signed and Gazetted’ as required by law and this meant that the remaining sums could not be paid over by the investors.”
“Following GuySuCo’s recent request to the Government for a bailout, NICIL was approached to assist the company. By now, the public must be aware that a $30 billion bond backed by NICIL’s assets and guaranteed by the Government of Guyana was secured through NICIL to retrofit and revitalise GuySuCo. We wish to remind too, that from July 2018 to February 2020, NICIL has disbursed $9,720,759,568 to GuySuCo to fund its Capital and Operational Expenditure.”
NICIL also stressed that Minister Jordan did not have any involvement in the selection of the investors, since he is not a member of the NICIL Board, nor involved in the day to day management of NICIL or the Special Purpose Unit (SPU) arm of NICIL. Efforts to contact the Minister were futile.