Dear Editor,
Minister of Finance Winston Jordan paints a rosy picture of Malaysian transnational logger known locally as the Barama Company Limited. Having written its own foreign direct investment agreement in 1991, Barama has continued to draw maximum tax and other concessions from Guyana every year while promising much and invariably failing to deliver on its promises.
The installed capacity of its second-hand plywood mill is 108 thousand cubic metres but since 2001 it has never exceeded 69 per cent of that capacity and for the last seven years it has been operating at 1/5 capacity or less while drawing 5/5 of tax concessions –
Meanwhile, Barama and Bai Shanlin have been the leading Asian log exporters of our high-value timbers.
You have noted the labour disputes at DTL but you may have forgotten that Bai Shan Lin has been controlling DTL since 2007. So not only is Bai Shanlin a persistent defaulter on investment promises but also a rotten employer.
Yours faithfully,
Janette Bulkan
