—says facility will be an income-earning opportunity for the University

THE University of Guyana (UG) is seriously contemplating occupying the glitzy five-storey

building located at Camp and Lamaha streets, Georgetown. It deems the building an ideal location to set up offices as part of its expansion programme, a top official at the Turkeyen-based tertiary institution has confirmed.

Owner of the building, Neal Sukhlall, has said the 40,000 square-foot building is ideal for embassies, call centres or corporate offices, among other entities. The building has an elevator, central air conditioning unit, a conference room, generator with an ATS system, and a pressure pump with a water filtration system.

Stabroek News recently reported that the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) was assisting in getting the building rented, and quoted Sukhlall as saying: “We have some interest from GO-Invest, from a company that approached GO-Invest; and we have some… At this point and time, we can’t name the company, but we are in the process of making some adjustments to suit their requirements.”

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday evening, Director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives of the University of Guyana, Dr. Fitzgerald Yaw, said the administration is currently conducting its due diligence on the building. According to him, the building that was previously rented by the New Thriving Restaurant at Camp and Lamaha Streets is among a number of buildings in “downtown” Georgetown that are being considered by the Administration.

Dr. Yaw made it clear that at this stage no agreement has been reached. “The university is in expansion mode, and we are trying to improve what we do as a university,” he said.

In the Administration’s attempt to raise the standards of the tertiary institution, it is faced with “a space issue,” according to Dr. Yaw. “I don’t even have a fixed office,” he disclosed, while alluding to the lack of space to facilitate both lecture theaters and offices.

He also said that the move to acquire additional “space” outside of the Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown campus is keeping with the vision of the University, which includes expansion of several programmes and modernization of its operations to match universities across the region and the world at large.

Dr. Yaw also spoke to the move by the Administration to enter into partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI). Questioned about the possible cost to rent the five-storey building, Dr. Yaw, though not providing an estimated figure, contended that the “upfront cost” would be higher that the revenues generated during the initial stage of rental, but the operational cost would be reduced once the situation normalises.

He noted that the building in question has the capacity to facilitate large conferences, and would create an income-earning opportunity for the University. “We are looking to earn income from conferences,” he said, while noting that the building “has a conference area.”

Vice Chancellor Dr. Ivelaw Griffith had, in October, announced that the University would be expanded to include a new location outside of the Turkeyen Campus. He said the move is an attempt to address accommodation issues facing the University in regard to its nearly 8,000 students.

During a lunch meeting with reporters, Dr. Griffith disclosed that three locations were identified, but one was seriously being considered. The locations under consideration, and their capacities, were not disclosed by Dr. Griffith, but he committed to providing full disclosure once an agreement has been arrived at.

“What we are doing currently is a business plan as part of pre-discussions with the owner (of the main property of interest),” the Vice Chancellor posited, while noting that if, or when, the business deal is consummated, he would be in a better position to disclose the income-expenditure component of the plan.

However, he made it clear that the push to have a new location for the University of Guyana would not result in abandonment of the Turkeyen Campus.

PRETENSIONS
Dr. Mellissa Ifill, in a Facebook post commenting on the issue, said: “Funny feeling aka intuition is a hell of a thing… It seems as though I’m right. The building at the corner of Lamaha and Camp Streets is to be rented by the University of Guyana because UG wait for it ‘needs a presence in Georgetown.’”

Dr. Ifill said apparently “it is irrelevant that Turkeyen, where the main UG campus is located, is actually already in Georgetown, Greater Georgetown.

“Apparently it is even more irrelevant that UG cannot afford it. It is however fitting that the proposed UG Georgetown location is said monstrosity, as it reflects the pretensions and ugly ambitions on display at UG.”

Dr. Ifill said the expensive flights of fancy and non-transparent hiring and spending practices, if continued unchecked, would bankrupt the university. “How many more 14-member teams do we need to take to New York? How many more consultants do we need to bring to tell us what we already know at astronomical rates? How many times do we need to fete and court our 49 education ambassadors for three nights at the Marriott? How many more banquets, talks, conversations do we need to host at the Marriott, Pegasus, Duke Lodge…I get the need for that, but wouldn’t this purpose be achieved more successfully if we first focused on expunging the rot inside the UG?”