RECENTLY, in one section of the media, much negative publicity was carried on the developer Fazil Ramzan. We have done business with Mr. Ramzan and could give a factual account of the story of Mr. Ramzan and his Sarah Johanna Housing project: Mr. Ramzan is an engineer who served both at the Guyana Bauxite Company and with the Guyana Electricity Corporation consultants before going to Canada. He returned in the 1990s on the advent of democracy in the country.
Among his interests was a housing development project on the East Bank of Demerara at Sarah Johanna. He secured the land and contracted with about thirty persons who paid deposits for him to build houses for them. Requiring a deposit on such housing contracts is normal. These deposits were theoretically 10% of the cost but some persons paid as little as $100,000 with a promise to meet their 10% while two to three others paid between $3M to $4M. In all he was paid about $30.M in deposits by the contractees.
He developed the land at Sarah Johanna by purchasing heavy equipment, clearing the land, draining it, surveying it, building a road etc. He of course had to employ a sizeable labour force to do this. He invested the deposits as well as his own funds in the development.
Unfortunately, the project was beset with a number of unforeseen problems, which though solved, held back the project and caused delays. So far, he has built five houses and laid down a number of foundations and will proceed with this project.
Several of the persons who had made contracts with Ramzan and had paid deposits had simultaneously applied for lots given out by the Government. They of course suppressed this vital information when making their applications for government lots, probably hoping to make a profit on either the Sarah Johanna lots or the Government lots.
Owing to the fact that there was a delay in the delivery of the houses, and most importantly, many persons could not contact him by phone, they became very uncomfortable about their deposits.
One of them went to the police and made a complaint and one newspaper misleadingly publicised a garbled story on the matter projecting the impression that there was something dishonest in the matter. Others, reading the story, also went to the police.
Mr. Ramzan was then taken in by the police and eventually charged for false pretence. Now, no pretence could have been made since there were contracts between the parties. This matter is therefore a Civil one of Contract and not a Criminal one as was mistakenly charged.
In any case, long before this negative publicity, Mr. Ramzan had been making partial refunds to several of those who had made deposits. Further, he has since been making arrangements with all who have made deposits to repay the deposits within a reasonable time, or to give house lots with payment of difference or to provide the houses. Actually, several persons with whom we are acquainted have told us that they opted for the houses as he is making a small profit margin and is selling cheaply to make a quick turnover.
It is our hope that Mr. Ramzan continues his project as he is providing for a social need at a very reasonable cost.
All this negative publicity of ‘scam’ and ‘swindling’ is quite non-factual and irresponsible.