ANTIGUA: Government looking to purchase hotel that closed nearly two years ago

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – The Antigua and Barbuda government says it is seeking to raise US$200 million on the European Stock Market in a bid to acquire the Jolly Beach Hotel, which closed its doors nearly two years ago owing both government and workers millions of dollars in outstanding taxes and severance.

“We expect the monies to come from the European source within the next two or three weeks, and when that happens, we believe within the next four to eight weeks, we can conclude that purchase and the workers will be paid within that timeframe,” Minister of the State within the Ministry of Finance Lennox Weston, said on Observer Radio here.

The announcement by Weston comes as the former employees of the hotel plan to stage a protest on Thursday outside the Parliament where Prime Minister Gaston Browne will be delivering the 2022-23 budget.

The Antigua and Barbuda Worker’s Union (ABWU) said the decision to protest had been taken on Monday as the hundreds of former workers sought the payment of the seven million EC dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) owed to them.

“It is a private company that owes them, and they owe government even more money…and we have been talking with several investors to purchase the hotel, and out of the proceeds, the workers will be paid,” Weston said, adding that the government had held talks with about five potential investors.

“While they had indicated that they had the money, so far the monies they claimed they had had never been sent to a bank account in our territory to prove that they have the money so we could conclude the deal.”

The government has said it is owed over EC$80 million by the hotel that closed its door in March 2020 and Weston said talks with several investors regarding the purchase of the hotel, estimated at EC$47 million, had not been quite successful.

“We have formulated a back-up plan as government to raise ….some money on the European Stock Market, and while those funds become available, move quickly to buy the hotel ourselves, and out of that purchase, the receivers will have the monies to pay the workers as a priority.

“We are not going to continue to have Jolly Beach being out of commission while the negotiations for finding a suitable investor drags on because it has been a very long time,” he added.

Jolly Beach Resort is Antigua’s largest all-inclusive resort, featuring 464 rooms set among 40 acres of land.