Bai Shan Lin ‘disrespects’ National Assembly

Jun 19, 2014 News

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– avoiding Parliamentary inspection – APNU
It is now two years since the Chinese firm, Bai Shan Lin, has been avoiding invitations to appear before the Natural

Resources Sectoral Committee to answer “several burning questions.”
This is according to A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Shadow Minister of Public works, Joseph Harmon, a member of that Parliamentary Committee.
Harmon said that the “excuses” presented to the committee to avoid parliamentary scrutiny can only be summed up as disrespect for the Committee and by extension, the National Assembly.
Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud, seems to be encouraging the actions of the conglomerate in this regard, Harmon said.
“The Natural Resources Committee has several responsibilities, one of which is ensuring that policies within our ambit are not violated. We wrote to the Minister of Natural Resources informing him that the Committee wanted to visit the work sites and to have a meeting with Bai Shan Lin. That was on June 13, 2013.
“The Minister replied on June 17 saying that due to the current work programme of the company coupled with the Minister being scheduled to leave the country on the proposed date, it would not be possible.
“The letter also indicated that they will communicate with us as soon as is convenient on a revised schedule and assist with logistics to ensure a successful field trip. Nothing happened.”
The Parliamentarian said that once again, the Committee wrote to the Natural Resources Minister, on May 30, last, requesting to visit the Chinese firm in Region Ten.
“The Ministry again wrote saying that it would like to acknowledge the letter but due to the agency’s programme…they are unable to accommodate the request. So what has happened is that for two years running, this company has avoided the oversight of the natural resources committee. It is in my view a disrespect to the National Assembly that a company as large as this cannot find it necessary to meet with the committee of the Assembly and so when these companies come to apply for large scale logging we have to view these applications in the light of the level of the disrespect which is shown to the National Assembly.”
Harmon added, “I am putting it on record that any company that is requested to appear before the National Assembly, they must see it as a part of their obligations because I would dare any company in the USA or so to be given a letter by a committee in the congress or senate and then they say their work programme is heavy.”
“I don’t think here in Guyana we can tolerate this type of disrespect for the National Assembly and its processes. It seems as if the Natural Resources Minister is aiding and abetting this kind of disrespect.”
“They (Bai Shan Lin) are avoiding parliamentary scrutiny. There must be something they have to hide that they want to avoid us. They have almost assumed a position of dominance in the market… you have a slowly creeping monopoly in the forestry sector and the Minister seems to be aiding and abetting it.”
The attorney at law said, “We have reports about conditions of work that are not up to standard and not in keeping with best practices , they do not meet our Occupational Health and Safety conditions…we have a lot of violations of our laws… They are getting away with too many things.”
When asked as to what moves will be taken to ensure that the Chinese company is brought before the Committee, he said, “The Chairman of this committee is Mr. Odinga Lumumba. My understanding is that he has taken a sharp stance on the matter … We will not allow him (Persaud) to block us anymore. The Minister will either have to do what he got to do and we will have to take some other measure.”
Bai Shan Lin International Forest Development Inc. had sent in its application for large-scale logging and sawmill operations in Regions Nine and Six to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The project would entail, felling, extractions of timber and transportation of same to a processing facility. They would also be doing grading, construction of roads, skid trails, bridges, culverts and camps with other ancillary facilities within the concession.
The EPA noted that it fully recognized that the impending works may have “significant impacts” on the environment.
It was reported that Bai Shan Lin has been in Guyana for the past eight years with operations through the Bai Shan Lin Forest Development Inc.
These include  Haimorakabra Logging, Karlam South America Timbers, Wood Associated Industries, Kwebanna Wood Productions, Sherwood Forests, Bai Shan Lin Housing Construction, Mining development Inc., and Bai Shan Lin Ship Building and Heavy Industries Inc.
Also, the Chinese Company has been granted a forestry concession that amounts to close to one million hectares of rainforest, from which it plans to extract logs and ship them out of Guyana. The company estimates that it will make US$1,800 from each hectare of land, giving it profits totaling US$1.7 billion.

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