New Demerara River bridge: Court grants Govt possession of properties from Peters Hall holdouts

– Govt ordered to pay less compensation than it offered

Several property holders at Peter’s Hall on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD), who were holding up the progress of the new Demerara River Bridge by demanding much more compensation than their properties were actually worth, will now have to contend with less after a court ruling awarded the properties to the State.
The cases of Attorney General v Joseph Klass and co-defendants, Attorney General v Dennis and Odetta Hall and Attorney General v Prince Wilson, were all heard by Justice Navindra Singh, who delivered his decisions on September 13, 2024.

In rendering his decisions, it could be seen that the state had actually been more than generous in the terms it had offered. For instance, Justice Singh found that the property at Lot 82 Peter’s Hall, which was the estate of the late Alexandrina Klass, was actually worth $16.8 million.
Additionally, while Joseph Klass, the executor of the property, claimed that income was being generated from the fruit trees on the property, there was no proof of income or income tax returns filed with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) that this was indeed the case.
And while the state had first offered more than favourable compensation to cater for any costs that may be incurred from moving out and renting accommodations, the court ruled that $2 Million was more than sufficient. As such, the total compensation awarded by the court was $18.8 Million, with the defendants also ordered to pay discretionary costs to the state for $500,000.
In the case of Attorney General v Dennis and Odetta Hall, Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, who appeared on behalf of the defendants, challenged the constitutionality of the compensation principles in the Acquisition of Land for Public Purposes Act, under which the government is seeking to acquire the properties. However, his attempts were rebuffed by the judge.
“This was neither pleaded nor raised in the evidence. It goes without saying that in any event it could not have been raised in the evidence, having not been pleaded. It is trite law that at a trial the parties are bound by their pleadings and no relief can be granted on any issue not raised in the pleadings,” the Judge ruled.

Patterson
The drama would unfold in this case, as two valuators were called (one by the state and one by the defense). The state’s valuator, Julian Barrington, deemed the property to be worth $31.9 Million in line with market value and advised that an additional $7.9 Million would serve as compensation.
Meanwhile, Alliance For Change (AFC) Member of Parliament David Patterson, who was called by the defense, determined the property to be worth $73 Million and advised $18.3 Million in compensation.
Barrington and Patterson would butt heads again in the case of Attorney General v Prince Wilson, with Barrington deeming the property to be worth $14.5 Million in line with market value and advising that an additional $2.1 million would serve as compensation. On the other hand, Patterson, who is a quantity surveyor by profession, determined the property to be worth $55.5 Million and advised $13.9 Million in compensation.
In both cases, however, the court rejected Patterson’s testimony, ruling that “the first comparable used by Mr. Patterson was a property located in Republic Gardens. With respect to this property, Mr. Patterson accepted that the value he recorded was not in fact based upon a sale of the property. He further accepted that that property was located within a gated residential community and the defendant’s property was not so situated,” the court decision recounted.
“Mr. Patterson did not present any evidence that the value he assigned to the second comparable was based upon a sale of the property verified by him and given the fact that he had testified falsely to the first comparable, the court is hesitant to accept his testimony that the value is based on a sale without proof of such a sale.”

Overvalued
In light of these and other factors, including the fact that the properties Patterson used for comparison had much more expensive buildings on the land than the defendants, the court found that Patterson deliberately sought to overvalue the defendant’s property. It therefore rejected his evidence.
It assessed the compensation for Hall’s property, located at Lot 85 Peter’s Hall, to be $31.9 million. Meanwhile, compensation for the Wilson property, located at Parcel 48: Block II, was deemed by the court to be $16.5 million. In all three cases, the court ordered that the compensation from the state and $500,000 in discretionary costs from the defendants, are to be paid by September 20th, with the delivery of the property to occur by September 30th.
In a statement, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC., who was represented by Attorney-at-Law Ronald Burch-Smith in the court proceedings, pointed out that the government had been in negotiation with the property owners, since 2022 and that nearly 40 of these property owners from Peter’s Hall to Republic Gardens had accepted the Government’s compensation package.
“The compensation package offered by the Government included house lots with or without a house, commercial lands along with monetary compensation and costs associated with moving, and in some cases, rental where a house was not available,” the Ministry said.
“However, the Government is in breach of its obligation to deliver to the contractor vacant possession of these properties, and at some point in time, if possession of these properties is unduly detained, the Government may have to insist on its strict legal rights and eject these occupants. Afterall, the legal titles for all these properties are already vested with the State.”
The US$260 million New Demerara River Bridge is already 69 per cent complete. The crossing will consist of four lanes and will span 2.6 kilometres, connecting Nandy Park on the EBD to La Grange on the West Bank of Demerara. Its total width, including the four lanes, shoulders, and median, will be 23.6 metres, providing ample space for safe and efficient traffic flow. (G-3)