Buddy's hotel aims for mid-February official opening
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
January 14, 2007
With the right support-financial and otherwise-the six-storey Buddy's Interna-tional Hotel with several entertainment facilities is likely to be ready for an official opening by mid-February, after being under construction for just 13 and a half months.
The hotel offers over 250 rooms including five presidential suites and 15 executive suites, two restaurants, a casino, five bars, a conference room to accommodate some 500 people, a gym and probably the largest swimming pool in the country to date.
Being built at a substantial cost exclusively in the first instance to accommodate the officials, media and sponsors of the ICC CWC 2007 tournament, the Providence hotel boasts a number of features to attract the big spenders, regular tourists and business clientele.
Meanwhile, the nearby Casique's Suites and Banqueting Hall appears to be far from completion, but Chief Executive Officer of the ICC CWC Local Organising Committee Karan Singh told the media when asked on Friday that the proprietors have assured him that they were working around the clock and would be ready for the ICC CWC 2007 matches which begin on March 28 and end on April 9. Stabroek News has been unable to track down the owners of Casique's for an interview in recent weeks. Nevertheless, this newspaper understands that many of the skilled workers who are no longer needed at Buddy's are now working at Casique's.
Contractor of Buddy's International Devanand Singh, who took Stabroek News on a tour of the property last week, said having to build the hotel in just over a year has been a challenge. "It has been hard and challenging but seeing the results I am feeling more confident now," the contractor, who has had over 20 years experience in the construction industry, said. He added that he had been ably assisted and advised by an architectural engineer.
Asked about concerns expressed by the Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA), Singh said they were more environmental than structural. These, including the septic system and reservoirs, have been addressed. He said that the septic system was similar to that found at the Cheddi Jagan Interna-tional Airport, Timehri and the hotel has two reservoirs in addition to a standby generator and its own satellite dish for its cable network. There are also fire escapes on both sides of the building.
Stabroek News's visit to Buddy's Hotel was facilitated by owner Omprakash Shivraj but he was not open to an interview after the visit. As such, some questions still remain unanswered.
Singh said the cost of the project had been underestimated in the first instance and the US$7 million to US$8 million that had been budgeted was grossly inadequate, hence the need for additional funding to get to the current stage. He said too that the cost of steel doubled during the construction period and the cement shortage was another problem that had to be dealt with.
Some sources of additional funding for the project came from a loan (a third mortgage) from the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry and from an advance from the Guyana government through a contract for the rooms to be used by the ICC CWC 2007 officials, media and sponsors.
Singh said it was difficult to secure and retain skilled staff, but to ensure the work was done workers were generally properly remunerated. He said that there were times when persons claiming to possess the required skills applied but when put to the test they could not do the job.
He, along with the workers, took shifts and worked around the clock when it was necessary. And during this last phase, he said, they were definitely working around the clock to ensure that the finer details were attended to. Even though the job demanded working to a tight schedule, Singh said he never felt like giving up and he was always given encouragement, anyway.
At present the workers are putting the finishing touches to the rooms and facilities below the fifth storey. Once these were completed, he said, efforts would be geared towards completing the work on the sixth floor.
In addition, landscaping, which would include the planting of palm trees and coconut trees and flowers to form a hedge instead of a fence facing the road is being attended to this week. Lights would also be placed among the plants, which Singh said are full grown and would be transplanted.
The façade would be enhanced with a 40-foot fountain, one of two that will feature in the hotel.
The building, which looks like a rectangle from the East Bank Public Road and runs north to south has two wings at both ends running west to east with a peanut-shaped swimming pool that looks more like a map of Guyana in the space between the two blocks. There are two pool side bars and at the eastern end of the 130 ft by 60 ft swimming pool, a stage with facilities to accommodate a band and other forms of entertainment.
On the ground floor of the two-storey northern wing, is a Chinese restaurant with two private dining rooms with the capacity to open as a double dining room for a family or a small group in the secluded area. There is also a bar in the restaurant. On the first floor is a conference room that could accommodate 500 persons and just outside lawn tennis and basketball courts are being developed.
On the ground floor of the southern wing is a Creole restaurant, the same size of the Chinese restaurant and similarly built. It would also have its own kitchen, bar and barbecue grill. The southern wing also boasts a gym and there are showers and toilet facilities on both wings for use by persons using the swimming pool. The casino is on the first floor of the southern wing above the Creole restaurant. According to the contractor, patrons at the casino or at the pool or in any of the restaurants would be able to enjoy the entertainment that would be taking place on stage.
The open space at the side of the southern wing is being developed for a car park and it would have the capacity to accommodate 600 cars at any one time.
The hotel's rooms and suites are in the main building and the elevators to the upper floors were installed three months ago. In the main building on the ground floor there are nine rooms which would be used by private businesses. They include space for a branch of a local bank, jewellery, clothing boutique, beauty parlour, and a telecommunication's company store. Stabroek News understands that these spaces have already been booked. All the main offices are also on the ground floor. There is also a bar in the lobby.
From the roof on the northern side of the fifth storey one can view the Demerara Harbour Bridge to the West Bank Demerara and all the way down to the city. On the opposite end the view is of cane fields, the stadium, Mocha and Farm villages and up the Demerara River as far as the eye could see.