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Bai Shan Lin – true or false claim by Minister Robert Persaud?

Jan 04, 2015 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
I query the assertions made by the Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment in his annual report for 2014, as conveyed in the article ‘NRE sector saw “significant inputs and improvements” in 2014’ (Kaieteur News, 31 December 2014) under the heading ‘Foreign Companies’.
Minister Robert Persaud is quoted as saying that ‘With no ambiguity in terms of the national consensus, specific terms of the details of investment are also very clear and open.  These agreements include loans publicly made available with documents being provided to parliament when required.  No laws are violated and dossiers of additional information are also provided’.
In the case of the Chinese transnational logger, Bai Shan Lin, whose transgressions of national policies, laws and regulations were partly revealed in both Kaieteur News and Stabroek News between July and September 2014, it is manifestly not correct that all relevant documents are now in the public domain.  In particular, the foreign direct investment agreements with this and other Asian loggers are not in the public domain.  It is readily visible that Bai Shan Lin has imported large numbers, some hundreds, of logging trucks, bulldozers and log loaders.  It is alleged that these imports have been free of duty, and that fuel is obtained by this company and its associates also free of import duty.  This is not the level playing field which is claimed on the website of GO-Invest.
The partial release of documents has been protested by Opposition MP Col. Joseph Harmon, as reported in ’GFC report on Bai Shan Lin operations …Report is a gross insult to citizens – Harmon’ (Kaieteur News, 14 September 2014), without eliciting a positive response from the Guyana Forestry Commission or Robert Persaud’s Ministry.
Would Minister Persaud now like to back his claim in his MNRE report by releasing the full set of documents into the public domain, or would he prefer to retract his false annual report?
Janette Bulkan

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