The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environ-ment has written to A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Joseph Harmon on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) saying that an impact study was done 12 years ago for a proposed airport project hence a new one was not necessary.
The Ministry sent a copy of the letter in reply to Harmon to the media yesterday. It is unclear why the EPA itself did not respond to Harmon. In the letter, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Joslyn McKenzie said that the EPA received an application for an environmental authorisation for the Chinese-funded US$138M airport expansion project on November 23, 2011. Sources noted that an application was made on this date even though the first inkling of the Chinese-funded project came by way of a report in the Jamaica Observer on November 18, 2011. It was only after this report was carried in the online and print editions of Stabroek News that the government acknowledged the project. In the circumstances observers say that the November 23rd application was extremely swift and possibly reflected the need to comply with strictures from the Chinese financiers even though the public had not been aware of the project.
Yesterday’s letter from McKenzie said that “A site inspection was conducted and based on findings, it was determined that an environmental and social management plan was required for the proposed extension. This decision to execute the ESMP was made on the basis that an Environmental Impact Assessment was previously conducted for the Airport Improvements Project submitted on August 29, 2000,” McKenzie said.
The Permanent Secretary said too that the potential environmental impacts associated with the project are similar to those previously addressed in the 2000 EIA and the identified impacts can be assessed and effectively mitigated by an Environ-mental Management Plan for the project.
He said too that a public notice was published in the press on December 12, 2011 whereby members of the public had a period of 30 days to provide any comments in relation to the airport expansion project. “No comments were received during this period,” McKenzie said.
He said that the ESIA requires the submission to, and approval by the EPA of an Emergency Response Plan, a Traffic Management Plan, a Construction Manage-ment Plan, a Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Plan, technical details of a Sewerage Treatment Plan and a Relocation and Compensa-tory Plan for all stakeholders affected by the project.
Efforts yesterday by this newspaper to contact Execu-tive Director of the EPA Dr. Inderjeet Ramdass proved futile as he was said to be busy in meetings. Further, queries to Minister of Natural Resources and the Environ-ment Robert Persaud on when the decision was taken to have an ESMP instead of an ESIA and on the suitability of the 2000 ESIA for the Chinese-funded expansion project were unanswered.
A source close to the aviation industry said that the Ogle Airport Inc when it was being developed a few years ago required no less than three ESIAs before any work could have been done on it. The source who is integrally involved in aviation development in Guyana said he had no knowledge of the Airport Improvements Project for Timehri in 2000 referred to by McKenzie.
As for the EIA done in 2000, the source said that 12 years would render it irrelevant to any present or future development.
A check on the Guyana page of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) website revealed a project in two phases titled ‘Study of Cheddi Jagan Airport I and II’ done between 1999 and 2000. However, the site had no attached documentation for that project. They were both listed as ‘completed’ on the site.
APNU on Monday said that the party is not against the airport development but that such development must have a human face. Speaking at the press conference Harmon said, “I wrote the head of the EPA this morning to ask whether the Ministers [were true in their statements about the EPA] and if so what is the basis for that advice.”
He noted also that he sent a copy of the letter to the IDB considering that Bank’s policies with regard to how issues such as the resettlement of persons must be addressed prior to development projects being done.
He insisted that there must be public consultations since the airport development could affect the flow of water into the Madewini Creek, the continued viability of Splashmins, and military deployment in the area.
Harmon had noted that Government is spending money to build new prison complex buildings in the areas from which they are saying people most remove.
