NATIONAL Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Executive Director, Winston Brassington, is debunking reports that Republic Bank is considering culling its financing arrangement with the Marriott Hotel project, currently underway in Kingston, here in the city. 

Brassington, who is also head of the Ministry of Finance’s Privatisation Unit, said he was recently in contact with one of the directors of Republic Bank, who spoke on behalf of the chairman, and gave full assurance that the Bank is still on board with the project.
“As of this moment, I have been given the full commitment of the Bank that nothing has changed as regards its investment in the Marriott Guyana project,” he iterated.
He said he was prompted to contact the Republic Bank and get reassurance of their commitment to the project after he was contacted by two reporters seeking to verify reports that the Bank’s involvement in the project was not entirely certain.
On Friday, Online news outfit NewsSource, citing “multiple” unnamed sources, went public with a report indicating that “Republic Bank may be having second thoughts about becoming a leading investor in the Guyana Marriott Hotel project.”
The Trinidad-headquartered Bank is to inject US$27M worth of syndicated debt financing into the US$58.5M project.
Brassington said in a statement yesterday that while he is always willing to speak with reporters, he is however disappointed that many of them often represent the private, special interests of certain media houses, an occurrence that seems to be the norm these days in Guyana.
“My response to the two reporters, who called individually from separate media entities,” he said, “was that unless they were willing to vouch for the accuracy and authenticity of their information, I would have no other alternative but to conclude that they were acting on behalf of these private, special interests and the persons behind them.”
The Marriott Hotel development has been bedeviled by criticism since it was mooted in 2006. Observers vocally debated the project’s feasibility, pointing out that US$18.5M of taxpayer dollars were being channeled to the project through NICIL, in the form of debt and equity financing.
Brassington has, however, asserted that the rate of return on the project was some 11%.
Additionally, furor over the identity of the investor, who is expected to wield 67% of the project’s US$12 million equity, is particularly intense.