GOVERNMENT may have to find an “unbudgeted” US$1.1M to bail the Marriott Hotel out as the controversial hotel’s loan is due.

This was disclosed on Friday by Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, during a press briefing at his ministry’s boardroom on Main Street.

While speaking on the subject of situations in which the government finds itself, Jordan said that the loan amount is due at Republic Bank.

The Marriott Hotel, which is a US$30M investment by the Government, through the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), is owned by Atlantic Hotel Inc. (AHI) and was reported to have been financed by a US$27M loan raised from a consortium of businesses.

Republic Bank had assumed responsibility for managing the loan, which with interest and other costs would see the hotel repaying US$26M in 26 installments.

On Friday, Jordan said AHI “don’t have any money and NICIL, the holding company which was being utilised by the previous administration to finance several major investments, also does not have monies to repay the loan amount.

“Who is going to pay so we don’t lose the asset of Marriott, “Jordan asked as he noted that the US$1.1M is payable every six months for a 13 year period.

Asked if the hotel is not performing, he said “It doesn’t matter if it does well, remember it’s the entertainment that was going to make it (loan payments)”.

He said the government will have to make the payment, a sum which he termed an “unbudgeted expense”. He said the government has to find the money, a problem which he noted was not created by the present administration.

This publication reported last December that even with a “good” occupancy rate, the controversial 197-room Marriott Hotel was unable to service its loan. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the (NICIL), Horace James, said that the hotel’s Board of Directors disclosed that the hotel was unable to service its debt at its Annual General Meeting during the last quarter of 2016.

“They [the board] say they are not able to service their debt,” he said, adding that there are still some outstanding loans from Republic Bank that the hotel might be able to access.

However, the CEO pointed out that AHI would “obviously” need to revise its plan to access those loans. He added too that he believes this process of revising the plan has begun.

He posited that the additional revenue the hotel could have been generating from its Entertainment Complex and Casino was not there. As such, James noted that the board expressed its intention to have the Entertainment Complex and Casino up and running at the soonest possible time.