Repossessed BiShanLin forest concessions being raided by loggers

Repossessed BiShanLin forest concessions being raided by loggers – Trotman

May 20, 2018 News

Forestry concessions once controlled by BiShanLin and related companies in Guyana.

Logging operations continue on forest concessions once controlled by disgraced Chinese investor, BaiShanLin.
Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, has denied that the company is behind the continued logging on the former concessions.
“BiShanLin is not doing anything, but from time to time people raid the concessions and you may see a truck or so coming out from one of them, but the company itself is not operating,” Trotman stated.
An investigation was launched after reports surfaced in February that employees of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) had stopped trucks that bore the company’s logo, transporting logs.
They found Wamara logs on the trucks. Checks reportedly found some discrepancies in the paperwork. The tags on the logs reportedly came from the Kwakwani Natural Resource Organisation (KNRO) but the logs were later traced to a concession that used to be controlled by the Chinese company.
GFC’s Commissioner, James Singh, told Kaieteur News on Friday that the investigations had not been concluded. The investigation would reveal how KNRO’s tags ended on logs that came from a forest concession in another concession. The name of the area in the Upper Berbice River area was given as “Waico”.
Trotman who appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources on Friday said that there are plans to redistribute the concessions to local loggers.
BaiShanLin grew in prominence after 2010, with its forestry company said to be co-owned by the Government of China.
With its original intentions to capitalize on forestry activities, BaiShanLin received unlimited concessions on vehicles, equipment, building materials and other tax breaks from the then Government.
In return, the company promised to open a large wood processing plant on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway. It received almost US$70M from the China Development Bank.
However, the company appeared to have got too ambitious. There was talk that it was protected.
It went into housing, buying 100 acres of prime housing lands at Providence, East Bank Demerara, and paying hundreds of millions of dollars for the incomplete Cacique Hotel in the same area.
BaiShanLin opened several companies signaling interest in shipbuilding, auto repairs, river transportation and a host of other activities.
A showroom at Providence remains incomplete and there were accusations that the company was using materials imported under its duty free concessions to supply the local market. Steel was one such commodity.
The company was even accused of burning up a large patch of forest in Berbice and attempting to cover it up.
There were also accusations that it was logging in areas that were for exploration.
Shortly after taking office, the Coalition Government appointed a new board at GFC, chaired by Jocelyn Dow. The board seized the forest concessions of BaiShanLin, including some it had acquired under questionable joint venture means.
In all, BaiShanLin had grown to be one of the biggest holders of State forests in Guyana.
There was evidence that little was done to curtail its activities here, many of them illegal.
Just recently, BaiShanLin again hit the news, after it was discovered that despite its forestry concessions being taken away by GFC, the company was illegally working its trucks and equipment in Berbice.
GFC seized a truck of logs reportedly illegally harvested from a Berbice concession once under the control of BaiShanLin. That matter is under investigation.
Authorities like GFC and the Guyana Revenue Authority have been attempting to collect millions of dollars from the company in taxes and royalties. However, there are few assets that can be found. It appears that some of the equipment, including excavators and trucks, was shifted to gold mining concessions now controlled by principals of the company.
BaiShanLin owes some $80M to the commission, but also has a larger debt to settle with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).