Dear Editor,

I thank Mr Chu Hongbo, General Manager of Bai Shan Lin (BSL), for his clarification in SN on July 12, (‘DTL operations are not connected to Bai Shan Lin’) that BSL has never been involved in the movement of containers from Mabura to Georgetown. However, this leaves open my original question about the contents of BSL’s sealed containers which arrive at Georgetown wharves. I now understand that these containers are sealed at BSL’s Coomacka Mines operation.

Again I ask, is Minister Robert Persaud’s promise of 100 per cent verification of timber exports (December 2006) being applied to BSL’s containers? Also, can the Minister confirm that his ban on log exports by BSL is not and has not been evaded by simply squaring of the logs to facilitate container stuffing? If indeed BSL’s Coomacka Mines mill is producing a high volume of sawn timber, this will be reflected in the monthly export statistics.

Yet no statistics have been published since February 2008, almost 5 months ago. Perhaps Mr Chu could now respond to the other points in my letter published on July 5? I attach two photographs (one reproduced here) taken at Mabura Hill between July and September 2007 which demonstrate the strong presence of BSL at Mabura Hill where it has a Technical Assistance Management Agreement (‘Demerara Timbers only deals with logs harvested by itself in its licensed areas’ SN, August 26, 2007). I am puzzled by Mr Chu’s assertion that “the operations of DTL are not connected to Bai Shan Lin”

Yours faithfully,
Janette Bulkan