The Sand Industry in Guyana

Apr 29, 2012 News

‘Sand business here is useless,’ a sandpit operator claimed

Works on the East Bank Demerara four-lane highway extensions have heavily impacted the supply and price of sand in the country.
Truck drivers are already complaining of reduced trips and sandpit owners believe there may be some degree of price gouging.
Although the country’s construction industry is booming, at least one sandpit owner said it’s not profitable for him.
Yesterday, the sandpit owner, Gopaul (only name given) revealed that he uses seven blocks of land for the purpose of sand mining.
He claimed that being a part of the sand industry is no child’s play but instead, a business which can send you behind the bars if no attention is given.

Visitors touring the Soesdyke/Linden highway sandpit

The man, whose sandpit is located along the Soesdyke/Linden highway, said that he has been running the sandpit, mostly at a loss, for almost three years. He added that the other businesses he operates assisted him a lot. Gopaul also mentioned that he can only name about four active sandpits.
When asked why is it he is continuing the sand business at a loss, he said that all the sandpits are owned by the government and when they issue a person with a mining permit, they can take it away if the land is not being used.
He emphasized that he has no intention of mining sand but the land that he has can be used for agricultural purposes when the sand is mined out, which in future, can make “mad money.” So in other words, his intention is to continue the sand business until the time is right for him to start his agricultural work.
Running a sandpit
To run a sandpit, he explained that a plot of land is first acquired by the owner. It can be acquired directly from Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), or Agricultural leases converted for mining purposes. A mining permit is then applied for at the GGMC.
If the application satisfies all necessary conditions, a mining permit is issued. However, the applicant must first submit an environment permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The permit is normally valid for 25 years and can be renewed.
If permission is granted, a-front-end-loader will be required to remove sand from the pit face and load into the trucks.
Gopaul claimed that the cost for a-front-end-loader is not less than $25M and he uses two to do his work.
The man explained that he has a staff of seven and on a normal day he sells over 60 truckloads of sand. On a bad day, he sells none.
He claimed that he sells one truck load of sand for $2000 which is not “worth it.”
Truck drivers
Truck drivers are now complaining of not getting the amount of work as usual due to works on the four-lane highway extension.
One driver, Sahad Basir, said that on a normal day, he would make about four trips from the sandpits to Georgetown and get $16,000 per truck load of sand.
But now some truck drivers claimed that they would normally make one trip per day. Also, they said that they tried to leave home early in the morning to beat traffic but instead, the police would stop them and make them wait for hours.
“They would stop us for minor problem, like over-taking, if one of the lights ain’t working,” a truck driver said.
He added that if they don’t offer the police money, they will be detained for hours.
“This is hard, it really hard because this is what we do for a living and now with the police on the road and the heavy traffic, it’s double stress.”
Customers
“This is not fair on us as customers, knowing its only $2,000 for a truck load of sand and here we gotta pay $14,000 to $16, 000,” said Asha Khan, a Grove, East Bank Demerara customer.
The woman emphasized that she is currently doing construction work on her home and she recently purchased a load of sand for $15,000.
She is calling on the authorities to look into the matter where customers are required to pay double the cost for an item and in this case, she claimed that she paid seven times the actual cost.
“If the sand people sell the sand for $2000 why is it the truck drivers calling for so much money?”
Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment
In an email from the Ministry, it was revealed that there are 27 active and 26 non-active sandpits in Guyana. It was also indicated that approximately 865 truckloads of sand are being collected per day.