– Persaud
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said government intends “to reallocate a part of the concession held by UNAMCO to community forestry organisations in Region Ten,” in an effort “to meet the socio-economic needs” of the region’s residents.
According to the minister, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) is currently in the process of doing the necessary sub-divisions and boundary alignments. “As soon as this is finalised, this process will be conducted via a transparent mechanism,” the minister said. UNAMCO has a 237,000-acre concession on the left bank of the Berbice River, about 50 miles south of Kwakwani.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of a Guyana government/Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) sponsored saw-doctoring course which was held on Wednesday last, the minister emphasised government’s commitment to the local forest industry and towards its goal of seeing the forests properly utilized.
He also responded to comments recently made by advisor to UNAMCO Hamley Case alleging that the government was being discriminatory in its refusal to renew UNAMCO’s lease. Case was at one time part owner of UNAMCO, through Case Timbers Limited.
Persaud emphasised that the non-renewal of UNAMCO’s lease was not discriminatory in any way and was caused by the repeated failure of the company to fulfil its obligations. He pointed out that, “during the entire duration of the UNAMCO concession, the Malaysian company failed miserably in its efforts to implement the approved business plan.” He stated that “productivity was less that 15% of the total allowable harvest, and a promised plywood and veneer plant never materialized.”
Persaud added that “contrary to the media claims by this former owner of Case Timbers Limited, senior representatives of the UNAMCO company met several times with the late minister, [Persaud] as minister of agriculture, and with His Excellency President Jagdeo. The documentation to support this is available.”
Case had previously said and continues to say that the officials from UNAMCO never met the Head of State.
However, according to the minister,” the common nature of all these discussions was government’s concern that prime state forest was not being beneficially utilized and promised investments such as the plywood/veneer plant was not forthcoming. At every meeting, the government was assured that the company would soon begin compliance with its obligations and elaborate plans were submitted.”
Persaud said that Case’s claim of discrimination was further debunked by the fact that the government has not renewed three large prime forest concessions which expired in 2007. The minister said that this was because of non-beneficial occupation of these concessions when they were active. Stabroek News understands that these are Interior Forest Industries Limited, Mazaharally and Sons Limited and Nagasar Sawh and Sons.
The GFC had previously charged that UNAMCO had incurred significant debts in terms of royalties and acreage fees. According to the GFC, at one point, the amount owed by UNAMCO stood at approximately $20 million and while the company entered into several repayment agreements it always defaulted. Stabroek News was informed that it was not until September 2007 that the company paid off its debts, after the lease expired. Stabroek News was shown documentation which stated that the three other companies which have not had their concessions renewed were among a group that was at one point significantly indebted to the GFC.
Meanwhile Persaud said more has to be done to optimize productivity from the forest. He pointed out that in 2008 most of the companies struggled to meet the stipulated minimum of at least 50 percent of their annual allowable cut. He said that for this year the government has made it clear that the expected minimum is going to be 60% and those companies that cannot meet this very attainable target will be in danger of having their leased concessions repossessed; alternatively, expired leases will not be renewed.
According to the minister, “the government has on several occasions made it explicit that renewal of expired concessions is not an automatic process.”
He added, “renewal is based on satisfying numerous transparent criteria, inclusive of compliance with the GFC guidelines, and implementation of the company’s approved business plan.”
Meanwhile, the latest announcement by the agriculture minister seems to suggest that UNAMCO will not have its lease renewed. Case had told this newspaper that since the company was expecting the release to be renewed, it did not remove all its equipment out of the forests. And according to him, both government officials and personnel from the GFC had indicated that the lease would be renewed.
However, the company was recently dealt a severe blow when armed bandits began raiding its concession, stealing the equipment and cutting them up. It is believed that the equipment was being sold as scrap metal.
Additionally, Case complained of illegal harvesters raiding UNAMCO’s concession, a matter which Persaud said had been dealt with by the GFC.
UNAMCO, a Malaysian-Guyanese company, began its operations locally in 1994 after buying over majority shares in a local timber company. The Malaysian company Tenaga Khemas and Guyanese company Case Timbers bought over the main shares of UNAMCO from a local businessman, who had been granted a 15-year Timber Sales Agreement by the government in 1992. With the purchase of the business, the new management took over the TSA which expired in 2007. Since then, the TSA has not been renewed.
