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Camp Street car park questionable – Harmon
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) shadow Minister responsible for Public Works and Infrastructure, Joseph Harmon, has expressed concern over Bai Shan Lin’s decision to build a car park on the Railway embankment in the vicinity of Lamaha and Camp Streets. This constriction is purportedly being done for Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Attorney at Law Joseph Harmon
Harmon, a lawyer, said that he found it questionable that the Chinese Forestry company Bai Shan Lin is involved in the construction of a car park for GRA. “The company is called Bai Shan Lin Forest Development Inc. One would think that given its name, the company would have as its primary interest, forestry development and things to that nature,” he posited.
According to Harmon for a company that has no jurisdiction within the field of construction, it is unusual for that company (Bai Shan Lin) to be involved in building a car park. “When you see the company now doing work in building a car park in Georgetown and renting it out to Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) there must be something unusual about such an activity. Why couldn’t the monies be allocated to the Ministry of Public Works?” the attorney queried.
Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur had stated that the Chinese company Bai Shan Lin in wanting to demonstrate corporate social responsibility offered to build the car park on the Lamaha Street embankment, east of Camp Street.
He said that GRA and the Company in a joint venture are building the car park, since according to Sattaur, Bai Shan Lin has the necessary equipment and knowledge to build the car park, it will do the work and GRA will rent the park.
“The GRA will soon enter into an economic relationship that would result in payment being made over a period of time for such facilities to be rented for a number of years at a nominal fee,” Sattaur said.
“What we are saying is that every time we see things like these, they are aberrations; it is something that we have to pay very close attention to.”
A civic responsibility
“Companies that utilize these roads particularly companies with large vehicles and heavy tonnage, I believe, share a civic responsibility for the maintenance of those roads because the stretch of road is a very long one between Ituni and Kawkwani and Linden.”
Harmon was ddressing the issue of whether or not private companies such as Bi Shan Lin have a civic responsibility in making sure that the roads that they traverse (Ituni/Kwakwani roadway) are maintained in light of the fact that they use large vehicles which carry heavy loads.
According to Harmon, “Communities that benefit from that road (Ituni/Kwakwani) are affected by the work that is done in the area by Bi Shan Lin and companies like that. So the companies must pitch in. They must assist in some way in helping to maintain the structure of those roads.”
The shadow Minister responsible for Public Works and Infrastructure articulated that his “understanding is that a contract has been awarded for the road itself.”
Two or three weeks ago I travelled on that road going to Kwakwani on one of our outreach exercises and had to comment about the state of the road.”
Harmon’s position is that these companies must help maintain the roads that they traverse extensively and inadvertently contribute to its destruction due to size and weight of the vehicles. He added that companies would argue that they pay their taxes and as such the onus or responsibility is not on them to fix the roads since they pay their taxes.
“But I think it is the civic duty or corporate duty or corporate responsibilities of companies that utilize these facilities to ensure that they are kept in a proper way” Harmon said.
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