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Gov’t moves to lift export ban on scrap metal
…as dealers commit to “policing” themselves
By Leonard Gildarie
Government is moving to lift the ban on the export of scrap metal but a number of phased measures will first have to be introduced before there is a resumption of exports.
This much was made clear on Monday when Head of State Bharrat Jagdeo met with a number of scrap metal dealers at the Office of the President.
One hundred days have passed since government, through Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, in April, halted the trade ferrous metals after widespread complaints of vandalism of state and private property.
Cables of the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company and property of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) and Guyana Water Inc (GWI), the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) were all targeted, with officials reporting millions of dollars in losses. The scrap metal trade was blamed and the government stepped in.
Also at the meeting on Monday were Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Manniram Prashad, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Komal Ramnauth, and Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited (GT&T), Yog Mahadeo.
Operations underway at a Sussex Street scrap metal dealer's location yesterday.
Yesterday, Ramnauth disclosed that as many as 15 containers of non-ferrous metals, including the coveted copper, are stuck in Guyana because of the ban. Another 75 containers of ferrous metals are also awaiting export.
According to the GCCI President, in the first phase, a team comprising inspectors from GT&T, GWI and GPL, along with representatives of the Ministry of Trade and the scrap metal associations, will be inspecting the packed containers that were held up when the ban was ordered.
These containers may, at the discretion of the inspection team, be reopened and rechecked before export permission is granted.
Following the completion of that aspect, the team will then move to stockyards where checks will be conducted to ensure none of the materials are illegal, following which permission will also be granted.
In the last phase, the dealers will once again be able to accumulate the scrap metal and the same stakeholders’ team will conduct inspection weekly, in effect, opening the trade again.
According to Ramnauth, under these new measures, the dealers will be policing themselves since they will be part of the inspection team.
“In essence, the dealers will now have to be their “brothers’ keepers”. Further, the Prime Minister will be notified on defaulters who are guilty of illegal dealings and severe penalties meted out.”
President Jagdeo also reportedly urged the dealers to band together under one body.
Following the ban, a number of members of the Guyana Scrap Metal Dealers Association had broken away and formed the Guyana Metal Recyclers Association. About 18 persons had shifted allegiance to the latter body.
According to a government statement issued Monday, the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce has been tasked with providing details of the different phases under which the new scrap metal trade rules and regulations will be instituted.
The GCCI had become involved in the process after stakeholders in the business sought the industry’s assistance to help resolve some of the problems they were experiencing.
Prime Minister Hinds had previously instituted a ban effective January 1, 2007 following similar trends in illegal activities and subsequently the Old Metal Dealers’ Act was amended, granting government the authority over the scrap metal trade and to impose fines and criminal charges if necessary.
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