Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar SC says the Government intends to divest the Magdalena Grand Hotel and Golf Resort, Hilton Trinidad, National Quarries and LABIDCO, arguing that the State should not be responsible for running these operations.
Speaking at the sod-turning ceremony for the construction of a Marriott-branded hotel by Superior Hotels Limited at Rocky Point, Tobago, the Prime Minister said the Government should no longer be involved in hotel management.
She said discussions with international investors about partnerships to rescue struggling State-owned hotels prompted her to question why the Government was running them in the first place.
“Why is a government running a hotel? And that is why we will put out expressions of interest, RFPs, shortly to divest the Magdalena Hotel from the government. We also intend to do a divestment process for the Hilton hotel.”
Mrs Persad-Bissessar stated that hotels such as the Magdalena Grand Hotel and Resort, along with the Trinidad Hilton Hotel, will be sold to suitable private investors.
“There is a particular business where we are saying the government will buy 50% of it and some private sector person will take the other percentage, and the gentlemen said, ‘You know, most things that the government invests in, they bust’. True or not true? Look at Magdelena today. Why is a government running a hotel and running it into dust, down to the ground.”
She also revealed that the Government is operating National Quarries at a loss.
“Government running National Quarries to dust, to the ground! So they prepare what is called, Moonilal, aggregate? So they prepare this aggregate; it costs them $350, but then they selling it for $150. That ain’t making any sense.”
The Prime Minister said National Quarries and the La Brea Industrial Development Company Limited (LABIDCO) will also be included in the divestment plans.