The Ministry of Local Government yesterday defended a solid waste recycling MoU with a Canada-based Guyanese but did not address concerns that investor has never operated or built the type of plant that is envisaged.
Tuesday’s signing of the MoU between the ministry and Mohammed Osman evoked concerns after Stabroek News reported that the investor had never built a commercial recycling plant but had only done a prototype. Concerns were also voiced that the process of selecting a prospective investor should have come under the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board and not the ministry.
Last night, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development released a statement vouching for the reputation of Natural Globe Guyana Inc., outlining the selection process employed leading to the MOU between the company and itself and condemning media houses for what it called misinformed coverage of the entire affair.
On Monday Natural Globe signed a MOU with the Ministry of Local Government for the construction of a US$30 million waste recycling plant, which Osman said should start by January next year and which he said would have created employment for some 500 persons.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development (MLGRD) wishes to clarify the misrepresented, misinformed and mischievous statements published by Media Houses which seeks to confuse and communicate incorrect messages to the public on the recent signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of recycling plant in Guyana,” said the statement.
The Ministry said that as it relates to the selection process, Natural Globe Guyana Inc. was amongst a list of nine potential agencies and was considered “the outstanding agency after satisfactory meeting the criteria outlined by the Ministry.”
It said that the selection criteria were based on the proposed nature of the recycling programme and its relevance to Guyana’s context of development and sustainability. “In addition, the proposals submitted by the other potential agencies had significant monetary impact and other obligations on the State in order to make their proposed programme a success,” it said. “Natural Globe Guyana Inc. on the other hand, proposed a method of operation that did not contain any monetary impact on the State hence, the direction the GoG is hoping to move forward with,” it said.
The Ministry stated that Natural Globe Guyana Inc. is a registered company in Guyana that is owned and operated by a Guyanese entrepreneur who resides in Canada and is in the process of becoming a re-migrant resident.
“This company is also a local consultancy firm that provides integrated solutions for sustainable development in the fields of solid waste management and specialises in operations in the environmental sector,” it said.
“Mr. Osman is the Chief Executive Officer of the identified recycling agency (Natural Globe Guyana Inc.) and has partnered with other Canadian agencies such as John Mogford Enterprise Inc. of Ontario Canada where he holds the position of Vice President in this Enterprise, which also specialises in recycling of wastes to final products, environmental management, transportation planning, modular housing projects, amongst others,” said the Ministry in the statement.
“In addition, Mr. Osman is also an active member of the Tadger’s Fuel Economy Solutions which is also a key player for environmental management in Ontario, Canada. Mr. Osman serves in the capacity of Technical Adviser to this agency as it relates to the utilisation of environmentally friendly products in an effort to reduce gas emissions to promote healthier environments,” the statement said.
“To this effect, MLGRD is satisfied that there is credible evidence with regards to Mr. Osman experience, involvement, and expertise in the business of recycling and his initial commitment to invest approximately US$30 million in this particular project and the standard operating procedures were followed in identifying Natural Globe Guyana Inc.,” said the Ministry’s statement.
Searches on the internet using Google revealed no link between Osman and the companies the Ministry said he was connected with in a senior capacity – John Mogford Enterprises Inc. and Tadger Fuel Economy Solutions. In addition, one person who worked in recycling in Canada said that if you put those two companies together they would not know much about the recycling area.
According to information from the High Court Registry, the owners of the locally registered business entity called Natural Globe Inc. are Mohammed Osman, Inzamam Osman and Audryanna Webster and it became a reality three months ago. But when contacted last night and told of this information, Osman would neither confirm nor deny, saying that he would be holding a press conference “very soon” at which all of the concerns will be addressed by him.
President of Panther Recycling Corporation Michael Mosgrove had told this newspaper on Wednesday that his company in Ontario recently incorporated the name Natural Globe Inc., and therefore owns the use of the name.
Asked what Panther Recycling Corporation plans to do about the use of the name, Mosgrove said, “Since it was not Incorporated on the date of signing I can’t do anything but if today or tomorrow or a year down the road he states he represents that firm he is going to find himself in serious hot water in Canada as well.”
He said, “The Minister’s Office now has a serious issue. The MOU was not signed in good faith”.
He added that “Mr. [Ganga] Persaud at the very least should throw out the MOU … This [is] a major embarrassment to the entire county,” said Mosgrove.
In its statement the MLGRD also accused Stabroek News and Kaieteur News of saying that a contract had been signed instead of the MoU. Stabroek News Editor-in-Chief Anand Persaud said that there was no such report in the Stabroek News.
Shameless
Leader of the Alliance for Change Khemraj Ramjattan said that this development shows out how “inept and hopelessly incompetent” is the running of this country when it comes to certain projects deemed developmental.
“This thing looks like the Government did not want a recycling plant, but a recycling of a (Bernard) Kerik, or a Sonny Ramdeo,” he said. “It stinks to high heavens again when no credential checks were done on this guy Osman or his company. Imagine the man’s closest association with a recycling plant was only a prototype!” he said, as reported in Wednesday’s edition of SN.
“This is exactly the same scenario as when the Government gave a company, Surendra Engineering, to build a Specialty Hospital; and when it gave the Skeldon Factory to CNIC, and contracts all over the place to people who know nothing about the projects,” he said. “This is just but the most recent of the scandals the PPP Government has indulged in. It is as shameless and as corrupt as it can get,” said Ramjattan.
Osman in an interview earlier this week with Stabroek News said that the company is still to get the land for the operation. He said that the company has not made a formal application for this and noted that that the MOU with the Ministry marks the beginning of a formalised arrangement with Government to get the project moving.
“We have not yet made a formal application but we will do so when the land has been properly identified,” he said.
He said that while the company has no operations in the Caribbean per se, they are providing consultancy services for a company in the Dutch island of Aruba and he said that Suriname has expressed an interest in having a similar facility.
“Our project will have a ripple effect,” he said, noting that items and materials that would have been otherwise disposed of in an environmentally unfriendly way would be utilised. “Our first concern is the environment. For the last 20 years all our products have been developed in a way [that is not harmful to the environment],” he said.
He said that while the name of the company has changed from time to time, the entity that he owns has been in business for the last 20 years. Over this period, he said that the company has been doing a lot of research into recycling and waste management and has come up with a patented technology which he would not want to disclose at the moment because of issues of confidentiality.
Ask how it is that this project will generate enough returns on its investment, Osman said that since his facility will be processing many materials and not just one or two he is not worried about the venture being able to make money. “If you decide to recycle one product, you dead…but if you recycle many different materials, they come in every day,” he said.
