Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Foreign oil companies not allowed to buy properties in T&T …but Guyana has nosimilar law or policy — Attorney-at -Law Sanjeev Datadin
Pull Quote: “We are allowing foreign companies to come into Guyana and do as they please. We do this while not giving any advantage whatsoever to local companies.”
By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell
Oil and Gas are finite resources. With this in mind, many countries try to make the best out of their oil industries, locking down economic benefits, from every angle, for their people.
Attorney-at-law, Sanjeev Datadin thinks that Guyana is lacking in this regard.
During a recent interview with this newspaper, Datadin recalled that he spent quite some time in Trinidad plying his trade. He said that while over there, he learnt that the island restricts oil companies from owning buildings, setting the stage for the Trinidadian Private Sector to invest in world-class offices for rental to oil companies. This resulted in billions of dollars in investments in buildings in Port of Spain, creating sustainable jobs, taxes and spin-offs to the local economy.
Much to his dissatisfaction, Datadin noted, “We are allowing foreign companies to come into Guyana and do as they please. We do this while not giving any advantage whatsoever to local companies.”
Datadin pointed out that Trinidad is not unique to that rule; he said that things are quite similar in other jurisdictions such as Antigua. Antigua is not an oil-producing country, but Datadin said that it protects its real estate industry, similar to Trinidad, when it comes to business relations with foreign companies.
“But here we want to say anyone can walk in and buy it all. And then there is no rental industry.”
He said that Guyana has tossed the opportunity to build and industry that could have been very lucrative. “We do not build any of that and that is how local content is supposed to work.”
Attorney-at-Law, Sanjeev Datadin
Datadin stressed his view that Guyanese are being placed at a disadvantage not only around the world, but in their own country.
He said, “We want to have a special relationship with Trinidad, which Trinidad is so conveniently pursuing, and we seem to be willing to do that. These are not things that should happen. I am not saying we should pick and choose. I am saying what we need to do is put a framework in place. We need to put the necessary legislation and regulation in place.”
Word on the streets is that many oil companies and even those foreign companies contracted to provide logistic and other support to oil companies are grabbing up land and properties in Guyana in anticipation of an economic boom.
ExxonMobil for one is now in control of 10 acres of prime land at Ogle. This is within the Eugene F. Correia International Airport.
Exxon, which is currently renting two office buildings in Georgetown, will soon erect its headquarters at Ogle. The company said that it wants to accommodate its “long-term growth in Guyana over the next several decades”.
The company said that the choice for the Ogle land was driven by its availability and cost, as it relates to the company’s requirements. ExxonMobil will also have helipads.
Local aviation operators had expressed concern about this. Many lamented the fact that while, for years, they tried to get land to lease at Ogle and were denied, ExxonMobil was given preference.
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