Construction work on the Reef Hotel by CuisinArt at the Golf Course in Anguilla was shutdown on Wednesday, January 22, on instructions from the investor, Mr Leandro Rizzuto, through his Legal Counsel, Mr John Benjamin QC.
The shutdown of the work, until the matter can be resolved was announced by Mr Benjamin at a press conference at the building site at which the construction workers and sub-contractors, including Mr Frederick (Daddy) Harrigan and Mr Harold Ruan, as well as the Project Manager, Mr Ronan Arava, were in attendance.
Mr Benjamin said that the issue which led to the close of the project was the refusal of Mr Hubert Hughes, Chief Minister and Minister of Labour, to grant a work permit to Mr Rory Purcell, Chief Engineer of CuisinArt Golf Resort and Spa and the new Reef Hotel project.
“Today is a very sad day, not only for all of us here personally, but also for Anguilla in that Mr Rizzuto feels that he is not allowed to operate or to function as an investor without personal interference by the Honourable Chief Minister of the government of the day,” Mr Benjamin told the gathering of media representatives and construction workers. “He has made several appeals to the Chief Minister for key personnel which are in keeping with the MOU. He has granted two of the three [work permits] and has left out Rory – and this work permit has been outstanding since August last year.
“Rory has a crucial management position which is permitted under the MOU signed by the Government. He has a proper understanding of what is needed to be done and, as you can see from the drawings here, that this work has been going on for almost over two years in preparation for what we have today. The Chief Minister, through his Adviser, Mr [Patrick] Hanley, said that he doesn’t have any objection having an expat person but not Rory.”
Mr Benjamin continued: “To bring in another expat person at this time will throw the programme almost back because this guy has two years of intellectual knowledge about the project, and it would setback the project. Mr Rizzuto has personal confidence in Rory and said that if I am the investor, and have personal confidence in any person to complete my job, [then that person]should be allowed to do the job.
“Mr Rizzuto indicated that he was with Mr Hubert Hughes, the Chief Minister, on many occasions. In fact, he was so annoyed the last time that he put it in writing and this matter was in the press and on the platforms in a matter of days.
“Rory is a highly experienced and versatile Engineer…He has been through the Labour Department and they have not found anything wrong with him. The only thing that appears to be his problem, according to the Chief Minister, is that workers have complained about him. Which workers and who workers, we have not a clue, but it would be silly to allow a few workers to destroy the job potential of many workers.
“One of the buildings on which construction should have started is the six-storey building, and that was something asked for by the Honourable Chief Minister who, when he saw the building that was there before, thought it was not an attractive building and asked Mr Rizzuto to knock it down and build something more attractive – and that he would like see a six-storey building. That building has not yet started and was about to be started within three months’ time, so we are now putting back the whole project… and this has a serious impact on the Anguilla economy.
“In the last two years, Mr Rizzuto spent a large sum of money in promoting the golf course to the extent that the golf course in Anguilla is now number 4 in the world. As a result of being number 4, the Professional Golf Association (PGA) is planning to host a tournament here in Anguilla… The General Manager, Mr Stephane Zaharia, is presently in Miami at the invitation of the Golf Association to witness a tournament there. All of this is in preparation for the construction of the [Reef Hotel] buildings to be completed between now and 2016. In fact, it is quite a large amount of work to be done and we cannot be hassled or be put off by petty nonsense.
“Mr Hughes’ personal issues with Rory have nothing to do with the project, and it is very sad that we have come to this stage.”
Mr Benjamin added: “I would like to inform the workers that you may have orders from Mr Arava to cease work as from today until further notice. That information was communicated to them and they left the compound.
Mr Benjamin said he had spoken to Mr Hanley, the Chief Minister’s Adviser, about the outstanding work permit. “Mr Hanley agreed with me that it doesn’t make sense to have the workers go home just for one person, and that he would work on the Chief Minister on the issue. I gave him until yesterday (Tuesday). He came back and said that the Chief Minister is adamant that he is not signing [a work permit]for Rory because he had some personal issues about Rory, and he had personal complaints about Rory.”
Meanwhile, Mr Harold Ruan commented on the matter in his capacity as a sub – contractor. He said in part: “This is not Hubert’s country. This country belongs to the people of this country – all of us – and I think that he is acting highhanded. It is a situation where this country has limited scope for employment; and with this meagre scope it is a crime being committed on the people of this country… and he will be brought to order by the people of this country.”
