De facto Govt. in mad rush to legalize land deals – Hundreds of acres of prime East Coast land involved

As Guyana gets ready for a long-overdue and contentious declaration of the March 2 General Elections, there is evidence now that moves are underway to sign away large portions of former sugar lands on the East Coast of Demerara. According to a number of vesting orders, transactions were signed by the Finance Ministry and others for the transfer of immovable property starting from Goedverwagting, in the Ogle airport going east.The lands are former lands of the Guyana Sugar Corporation and lie near the former headquarters of the Guyana Sugar Corporation at Ogle.

These are prime spots that are located near a major planned highway that would link the East Coast to the East Bank transportation network. These lands form almost 1,000 acres of prime lands have been opened by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) for commercial development, said to be worth billions of dollars.

one-of-the-vesting-orders-details-blanked-out-seen-by-kaieteur-news

One of the Vesting Orders (details blanked out)...

2

1

Kaieteur New understands that this month alone, several persons were contacted by government officials with offers to purchase what amounts to hundreds of acres of land. Earlier this year, just days before elections, the Granger administration had announced several major projects – including the sod turning ceremony of what was promised to be three international brand hotels – to be developed in the area. The opposition as well as public accountability advocates had argued at the time that the government, being in caretaker mode, could not be involved in such deals.

This month’s offers, including several transactions that Kaieteur News understands are ready to be gazette as early as tomorrow, come in the wake of government having even less legitimacy than it enjoyed in December after the elections recount exercise has shown the People’s Progress Party beating the Granger coalition by some 15,000 votes.

The disposal of state lands in this way and at this time, particularly those deals necessitating the signature of de facto Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, bring into question the legality of these transactions. With the current court case in which the Granger administration is seeking to block a declaration coming out of the recount results being decided tomorrow, and the probability of Irfaan Ali being sworn in, the urgency with which the land deals are being pushed raises serious public accountability questions.