Two major commercial disputes involving the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) and Austrian healthcare contractor VAMED are to be heard in Guyana, with the claims collectively valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC has disclosed.
Nandlall, speaking on his Issues in the News programme on Tuesday evening, said the MARAD matter concerns the dredging of the Demerara River and is expected to proceed in December.
“In December, we have a huge arbitration here dealing with MARAD and the dredging of the Demerara River. The seat of the arbitration is Guyana,” he said.
“This arbitration involves a dispute whose value runs into millions of US [dollars],” he added.
The Attorney General did not identify the other party to the dispute, the contract from which it arose, the precise value of the claim or the issues to be determined by the arbitration panel.
Nandlall also disclosed that a dispute involving two hospital contracts awarded to VAMED has been referred to arbitration under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
“We have the VAMED hospital issue, which is at an ICC arbitration, but the arbitration process will take place in Guyana because the contract says—or the contracts say, two contracts—that the arbitration, if arbitration arises, must take place in Guyana. Guyana shall be the seat of the arbitration,” he said.
According to Nandlall, that matter is expected to be heard next year and is valued at “hundreds of millions of euros”.
He provided no details about the claims advanced by either the government or VAMED, the current stage of the proceedings or the financial exposure facing the state.
VAMED was contracted to construct the €149 million maternal and paediatric hospital at Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara. The project was launched in July 2022 and was originally expected to be completed in 2025, but has fallen substantially behind schedule.
In February, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony attributed the delays to changes in the ownership of the contracting company. The minister said the government had been engaging the new owners about accelerating the work.
VAMED was also contracted to build a new New Amsterdam hospital. Stabroek News had reported that the contract for that facility was valued at approximately US$161 million.
Nandlall did not expressly identify the two contracts forming the subject of the arbitration.
In relation to the MARAD dispute, Stabroek News reported in 2022 that capital dredging was being undertaken in the Demerara main ship channel as part of works to deepen and widen the channel. That exercise involved dredging vessels operating from the mouth of the river and off the West Coast of Demerara.
There was no indication from Nandlall, however, whether that project was connected to the dispute now headed to arbitration.
The Attorney General raised the two cases while arguing that an independent and competent judiciary was critical to Guyana’s growing commercial sector.
He explained that although companies may choose arbitration instead of litigation, the court system remains important because parties sometimes require interim orders and arbitral awards must eventually be recognised and enforced through the courts.
“We have some major arbitrations coming to Guyana for the first time in our history,” he said.
Neither MARAD nor the Ministry of Health has publicly provided details about the disputes.
Discussion