Pradoville 2 matter handed over to State Assets Recovery Unit

– NICIL oversaw transaction, kept CH&PA in dark

The Ministry of Housing has asked Government’s newly established State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) to look into the ‘Pradoville Two’ deal.

Bharrat Jagdeo

The transaction is quickly evolving into a scandal which at first glance speaks of abuse of state resources by the previous administrations under the People’s Progressive Party. At the very least, Government officials said, the deal was improper. The matter is being examined under forensic audits being carried out at both the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) and National Industrial Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL). Yesterday, Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Keith Scott, disclosed that the area situated at Parcel 172 Plantation Sparendaam and Parcel 237 Plantation Goedverwagting, known by citizens as Pradoville 2 was “mutated” and sold subject to a Cabinet decision. While he did not say when, from indications, it was done under last Bharrat Jagdeo administration. His last term in office ended in 2011. The state-owned NICIL/Privatisation Unit was authorized to do all acts necessary to ensure the vesting of the new development project in the CH&PA, the body which is tasked with overseeing housing developments in Guyana. NICIL/Privatisation Unit is headed by Winston Brassington, an executive who oversaw a number of contentious multi-billion-dollar public infrastructure deals. According to Scott yesterday, the allocation of parcels of land to the several former ministers, senior

Minister Keith Scott

Government officials and friends close to the PPP administration, along with the method to determine the prices paid, were not assessed by the CH&PA. “The method of allocation of lands within this housing development as opposed to other schemes under the control of the Central Authority was not followed,” Minister Scott said in a statement to this newspaper. Regarding issues of whether the recipients, including Jagdeo and Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, were owners of properties at the time of the sale, Scott made it clear the CH&PA seemed not have been in the loop as the paperwork is not there. Under regulations of the authority, persons or families who owned properties cannot be allocated new lands. “Those who were allocated the parcel(s) of land, whether they were the owner(s) of land at the time of allocation and the price attributed to each parcel of land, were not under the control of the Central Authority,” he said. As a matter of fact, the authority’s role in the Pradoville Two construction seemed to be limited. “The plans showing the survey of the area were done at the behest of NICIL/Privatisation Unit.” The infrastructural works were contracted to Atlantic Construction by NICIL/Privatisation Unit. Scott did not make it clear whether the infrastructural works were tendered for. He said from evidence, CH&PA merely acted as the collection agency

Remigrants paid ten times the price that former President Bharrat Jagdeo paid for house lots. Remigrants paid $1,111 per square foot to Jagdeo’s $114 per square foot.

for the cost paid by the beneficiaries of the land. “The resident/owners paid to the Central Authority the sums stated on their Certificate of Title passed by the Registrar of Land.” Over the weekend, it was revealed that NICIL paid more than $100M to remove a transmitting tower from the Pradoville Two land, an area of prime land on the East Coast of Demerara that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. An entire new facility had to be rebuilt along Dairy Road, West Bank Demerara. NICIL reportedly also spent tens of millions to build roads, drainage and culverts and lay pipes and in some cases, underground power cables. The developed house lots, complete with infrastructure, were then sold below market value to Jagdeo, several ministers and Government officials and friends. There is no evidence that the house lots sale was advertised or what procedures were used in the allocations of the parcels of the ocean-front properties. Jagdeo himself, according to details of allocations, received two parcels equivalent to two acres. On it, he built an imposing mansion, complete with pool and overlooking the seawall and the Atlantic Ocean. He paid a total of $9.8M. He had owned a property along the Ogle Airport Road in the community that was known as ‘Pradoville One’. However, he sold that property to Trinidadian advertising executive, Ernie Ross. In effect, Jagdeo paid three times less than what ordinary citizens in the Diamond and Grove Housing Schemes, East Bank Demerara, would have been required to fork out. Jagdeo’s payment for the Pradoville Two parcels translated to $5M per acre which works out at $114 per square foot; the ordinary man pays $317 per square foot for his plot. The sale of the Pradoville Two house lots for such a low price would contrast starkly with what remigrants had to pay under the Government’s scheme for returning to Guyana.  Remigrants paid more than ten times the price Jagdeo paid for the same size house lot. They paid $1,111 per square foot. Other beneficiaries included Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack; former Head of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Ramesh Dookhoo; former Ministers Clement Rohee, Priya Manickchand, Robert Persaud and even former Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon.