By Mario Joseph
Baishanlin is building huge water craft at Moblissa, Linden/Soesdyke Highway for the likely transport of logs and there is yet no sign of the start of any timber processing plant.
The Chinese logging company is now under intense examination for failing to establish wood processing facilities while all the time engaged in the export of logs. Both Baishanlin and the government have said that its log exports are within allowable limits and there are no illegalities. These statements have however been met with great skepticism.
Since the controversy erupted weeks ago, Baishanlin has issued press releases but has not answered questions from the media. Stabroek News has therefore been unable to clarify what structures are being built at the Moblissa site which has been named Concepcion. A visit to this site on Thursday and another at Coomacka evinced no sign of wood processing activities. The sawmill at Coomacka which Baishanlin had acquired from another Chinese logging company, Jaling was desolate and the only sign of activity was the loading of containers with logs.
The same was true at Concepcion aside from the building of the huge water-going craft. On the visit to this site, Stabroek News travelled along a 30-feet wide road cleared just off the Linden/Soesdyke Highway and padded firmly with loam and sand for about one mile or so. It led into an expansive complex where large-scale water craft construction was occurring. In a construction yard that measures more than the size of Stabroek Market Square, filled with large fleets of trucks, tractors, cranes and other heavy duty building machinery, the only thing that was being constructed were structures resembling punts, the size of a large two-storey house. This site is bordered by the Demerara River and the finished craft would have clear and easy access to the waterway on completion.
At the site on Thursday, there were about 15- 20 Chinese workers, all of whom claimed not to speak English. The site was equipped with a power generator fitted under a steel hut, a housing section and was littered with about a dozen containers some emptied while others were half empty. There were over 50 trucks and about 20 tractor-type/log-loaders on site.
Baishanlin and the government face a series of unanswered questions over its operations here. Stakeholders, including the parliamentary majority opposition have called for the foreign direct investment contract with Baishanlin to be made public. No answer has yet been forthcoming on who crafted this agreement and on its availability.
The legality of Baishanlin’s landlording arrangement with a series of other forest concessionaires has been queried as the law that would cover this was brought into force long after this arrangement had begun. Logs have still however been drawn from various concessions.
Though it has been here since 2007 and benefited from tax concessions, there is no sign of any progress towards value-added processing.
Most of its infrastructure which has been drawn to the attention of the public by the media seems geared towards logging and shipping. Stakeholders have questioned the justification for the tax concessions which were granted to it earlier.
There are also questions about the number of Guyanese who have been employed by Baishanlin versus the importation of Chinese labour for a variety of jobs that can be taken on by locals.
Questions have also been raised about Baishanlin’s connections with the government and its regulatory agencies. Baishanlin has built a parking lot for the Guyana Revenue Authority along the Lamaha Street embankment in what has been deemed an unacceptable arrangement.
The company has also snapped up real estate including the Casique building near the Providence stadium which was intended to be a hotel for the 2007 cricket world cup but was not finished in time. It had
languished until this year when Baishanlin stepped in.
Baishanlin has applied to the Guyana Forestry Commission to log in its own concessions along several rivers.
This application is being considered. It is also eying expansion into a number of other areas including mining.
Indian timber company Vaitarna is also facing a series of similar questions as its value-added promises have not been fulfilled.
