THE decision of the National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited’s Special Purpose Unit to renovate a building which previously housed the sports club at GuySuCo’s head office at LBI is causing contention between the unit and sugar corporation.

This is after the completed facility, which now sports a multi-million dollar pool and other facilities, have been converted into a sports bar. Recently, the SPU held a ceremony to commission the bar and on Friday they had planned the opening of the sports bar, something which the management of GuySuCo, according to its Public Relations Officer, Audreyanna Thomas, is not pleased about.

She said that the idea of a “Sports Bar’ promotes the use of alcohol on the premises and encourages its workers to drink while on the job, something that is outside of the company’s principles and values.

Despite the earlier notice by the SPU about the opening of the bar yesterday evening, the sugar company placed a public notice in the press advising the public that the planned opening was no longer taking place. Signs to that effect were also placed at the entrance to the LBI Estate, in which houses the GuySuCo head office and the new facility in question.

One senior official from the Special Purpose Unit told the Guyana Chronicle that while the planning and renovations of the facility were ongoing, there was no level of push back from the corporation. This was confirmed by the Public Relations Office of GuySuCo. In fact, there was a committee establishment and on that eleven-member committee, five of the members represented GuySuCo.

Asked about this, the Thomas explained that the works and the plans for the facility when it was under renovation were all going on during a window period when the company was not sure who was really responsible for the corporation, be it the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture or the Special Purpose Unit. The PRO said that the corporation believed at the time that the SPU was superior to them and as such did not push back and or question anything that was being done during that period.

However after it became clear that the SPU was not in charge of the operations at the head office, the management then began to raise concerns about the facility and the spending of monies to bring on stream a facility that, in essence, promotes alcohol consumption on the premises. However, this newspaper was told by persons within the SPU that the sugar corporation only began pushing back at the works and the plans for the facility after the SPU withheld monies which the company had asked for. It was noted that previously, the company had asked for monies to pay staff and carry out works on several facilities to enhance them for the comfort of the staff but instead the money was used to clear a number of debts. With that development when the request was reportedly made for additional funds, the SPU said it was advised by the bank not to release any funds to the corporation.

The Guyana Chronicle reported on Friday that Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Sugar Corporation, Dr. Harold Davis Jnr. have expressed deep concern over the handling of the $30B syndicated bond secured by the SPU to revive the industry, with the latter describing the deal as a bad one and the minister saying he has been left completely in the dark about the transaction. Reports surfaced in another publication earlier this week indicating that Republic Bank would have halted GuySuCo’s bond financing over claims that the money was not used for its intended purpose. GuySuCo had received two disbursements–one for $880M and another for just over $1.1B. Dr. Davis on Wednesday confirmed that the corporation did receive approximately $2B but made it clear that the money was not misused. He told the Guyana Chronicle that the close to $2B handed over to GuySuCo was addressed to “employment costs,” noting that the corporation has a large workforce, and needs to cover basic operating expenses, and capital projects. “The money was not used for the repaying of a debt; the money was used for the payment of interest, which is part of our operating expenses. When you incur credit from creditors, elements of interest have to be paid. If you take a mortgage you pay interest; these are operating expenses, they are legitimate operating expenses,” he explained.

Dr. Davis said a percentage of the money was used to facilitate capital works as well. “So the rest of the money that was requested was addressed to essential capital that also passed through a tender process and approved by the ministry,” he said. He maintained that the sugar corporation has always been transparent about the use and intended use of the funds.

Last month, the SPU disclosed via a press statement that almost $2B was disbursed to GuySuCo for operational expenses of the Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt estates. In that statement, it was explained that through local financing, arranged by Republic Bank Limited, the SPU managed to successfully negotiate a Bond Facility for $30B, with significant input from the Ministry of Finance, and of the full sum secured; $17B was requested in the first tranche.