Latest update April 7th, 2025 6:08 AM
Bai Shan Lin’s contract for Parliamentary scrutiny on Monday
Government is set to appear before a special Parliamentary committee to report on, among other things, Bai Shan Lin’s contractual arrangement on its planned investments.
An artist’s impression of Bai Shan Lin’s proposed facility at Providence.
Bai Shan Lin, a Chinese company, has been granted major logging concessions and has announced plans to plug billions of dollars into building processing facilities.
According to the Parliament Office yesterday, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud, will lead a team before the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Monday to make presentations on developments in the Petroleum Division, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in relation to Isseneru, the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GL&SC) and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) – closed areas.
Specifically, the Ministry will be providing general information relating to regulations that guide the valuable minerals trade.
Minister Persaud will also be providing an update to Parliamentarians on BOSAI and the bauxite industry.
The Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources, in the discharge of its scrutinizing role, is mandated to examine all policies and administration, in the Natural Resources Sector, to determine whether the execution of government policy is in consonance with the principles of good governance and in the best interest of all the people of Guyana, Parliament Office said yesterday.
The Natural Resources sector has been one of growing importance in recent years, with heavy interest in especially the gold fields and the emerging oil and gas areas.
Gold especially has been raking in the most foreign exchange for Guyana, surpassing sugar and rice. However, there have been concerns over the number of logging and mining concessions granted to foreign companies and whether the operators were complying with the conditions which called for investments and hiring of local labour.
In the case of Bai Shan Lin, that company had announced plans to establish a major processing centre and build a facility to showcase its products at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Focus has also been on how EPA and GGMC have been discharging their duties.
Bai Shan Lin 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 recently applied for permission to embark on large-scale logging and sawmilling operations in its concessions at Region Six and Nine.
It has been granted permission to dig up a 20-kilometre stretch of river to look for gold.
Other plans include setting up what it is calling a Guyana-China Timber Industry Economic and Trading Corporation Park, plus a 400-acre real estate development.
As part of ambitious plans, Bai Shan Lin was expected to establish the Linden Wood Processing Factory, resulting in the large-scale production of high-end furniture; flooring; veneers; doors; mouldings; finger jointing and lumber, among others.
Opposition Members of Parliament have been calling for stricter scrutiny to ensure compliance by foreign investors, especially in areas of the extractive industries.
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