| Details are emerging how state resources to the tune of tens of millions of dollars were abused during the last term of Bharrat Jagdeo to build a special seaside community on the Sparendaam foreshore, East Coast Demerara.The Pradoville Two transaction would have spanned a number of Government entities, including the Central Housing and Planning Authority, the National Communications Network (NCN) and the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).Prior to stepping down in November 2011, after he completed his constitutional two terms in office, Jagdeo and his administration in deciding to build a community for himself, ministers and friends, stumbled on a big problem. Sitting on the land was a huge transmitting tower belonging to the state-owned NCN.A decision was taken to move the tower to Dairy Road, La Parafaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara.NICIL reportedly paid over $100M to take down the tower and build the new transmitting facility. It was a charge on NCN.Significant sums from the State were spent also on the construction of roads, drainage network and other works at Pradoville Two. The developed house lots, complete with infrastructure, were then sold below market value to Jagdeo, several ministers and Government officials and friends.There is no evidence that the house lots sale was advertised or what procedures were used in the allocations of the parcels of the ocean front properties.There are also no details of whether the recipients were owners of properties at the time. If they were, under regulations, they would have been barred from buying the lands under regulations of the Central Housing and Planning Authority.A forensic audit is now being carried out at NICIL and CH&PA.The transaction is now being examined by auditors who have been mandated by the new administration to carry out forensic work.Last week, Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Keith Scott, who is charged with housing, confirmed that the entire development project will be examined.Minister within the Ministry of Finance,Cheap Basketball Jerseys For Sale, Jaipaul Sharma, also said last week that forensic audit is being done on the Pradoville Two transactions.QuestionableWith few lands available on the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara for allocations, the Pradoville Two scheme has been galling house lot applicants.Reportedly, there are almost 10,000 applications pending on file,Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale, leaving the new Government scrambling to find lands for housing.Remigrants paid ten times the price that former President Bharrat Jagdeo paid for house lots. Remigrants paid $1,111 per square foot to Jagdeo’s $114 per square foot.Jagdeo himself, according to details of allocations, received two parcels equivalent to two acres.On it, he built an imposing mansion,Wholesale Cheap Jerseys, complete with pool and overlooking the seawall and the Atlantic Ocean.He paid a total of $9.8M. He had owned a property along the Ogle Airport Road in the community that was known as ‘Pradoville One’. However, he sold that property to Trinidadian advertising executive, Ernie Ross.There is no confirmation whether the former President paid the Capital Gains tax on the profits he made on sale of the mansion or whether the 10-year timeframe had passed in which he could have sold the property.In effect, Jagdeo paid three times less than what ordinary citizens in the Diamond and Grove Housing Schemes, East Bank Demerara, would have been required to fork out.Jagdeo’s payment for the Pradoville Two parcels translated to $5M per acre which works out at $114 per square foot; the ordinary man pays $317 per square foot for his plot.The sale of the Pradoville Two house lots for such a low price would contrast starkly with what remigrants had to pay under the Government’s scheme for returning to Guyana. Remigrants paid more than ten times the price Jagdeo paid for the same size house lot. They paid $1,Wholesale NFL Jerseys,111 per square foot.The ordinary house lots for remigrants and citizens are not ocean-front, but are located on the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara, in what were abandoned cane fields.Pradoville Two is located in an area known officially as Plantation Sparendaam and Goedverwagting Two.DPPOther beneficiaries included Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, and former Head of the Private Sector Commission (PSC),Jerseys NFL China, Ramesh Dookhoo.The DPP has sweeping powers and holds an independent office.Former Public Service Minister, Dr. Jennifer Westford; former Natural Resources Minister, Robert Persaud; Compton Bourne, former Head of the Caribbean Development Bank and UG Chancellor; Ghansham Singh and Kamini Parag-Singh and Florrie Loretta Ramnauth also received house lots.Singh is said to be the son of former Labour Minister, Dr. Nanda Gopaul. They also paid just over $1.5M.Ali-Hack and her husband, Moeen ul Hack, a top figure in the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG), paid $1,488,744 for a piece of land. The Certificates of Title were prepared in 2011.Dookhoo, a Banks DIH executive, was a former Chairman of PSC as well as the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI). He reportedly paid $1,502,Cheap Wholesale Jerseys,500 for his plot with his title prepared in 2010.Also benefitting was Lisaveta Ramotar, daughter of former President Donald Ramotar. She paid $1,515,000.Former Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee; former GWI boss, Shaik Baksh and former Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, also received lots, paying just over $1.5M each.So too did former Army Chief, Rear Admiral Gary Best and sacked Chief Executive Officer of the embattled Guyana Sugar Corporation, Dr. Rajendra Singh.Also named in the list were Andrew Bishop, a Presidential Advisor in the former administration and former Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission.Safraaz Khan and George Hallaq, said to be the country’s former Middle East envoy, and a company called Future Developers International Guyana Inc., were also among the other names on the list. |
