Officials who allowed logging company Baishanlin to build a 130 kilometre road without the required environmental authorisation should be held to account and President Donald Ramotar must put his foot down, APNU General-Secretary Joe Harmon says.
“If something is illegal, it is illegal,” Harmon told Stabroek News yesterday. He said that APNU is concerned and noted that certain companies with the blessings of government “are behaving as if the laws of the country do not apply to them.” Harmon pointed out that the road was built without the necessary approvals. “It is unauthorized,” he said, while adding that the road should not be opened and the authorities should not allow the road to be used.
Stabroek News reported last week that the 130 kilometre road built by Chinese logging company Baishanlin in the Region Six forests appears to be in violation of the law as it was built without an impact assessment being done or approval being given for its construction. The law requires an environmental permit to be issued before any major project such as road construction is undertaken and it is unclear how Baishan-lin skirted this requirement for the road which extends from Kwakwani almost to Region Nine.
Under the Environmental Protection Act, “a developer of any project listed in the Fourth Schedule, or any other project which may significantly affect the environment,” is required to apply to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for an environmental permit for the project. Among others, the construction of roads, harbours and airfields are listed in the Fourth Schedule and such projects require environmental authorization before construction can begin. According to the Act, every person who fails to carry out an environmental impact assessment or who commences a project without obtaining an environmental permit as required under the Act or the regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to prescribed penalties.
Director for the Com-pliance and Enforcement division of the EPA Khemraj Parsram had told a meeting in Apoteri two Tuesdays ago that the road would be covered under the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) currently being done. Deputy-Commissioner of Forests Tashreef Khan had also told the meeting that there was “upgrading” of trails and the company was given permission to “upgrade the trails.”
Despite Khan’s statement, no current official maps indicate the presence of “trails” where the road is now and it is now so wide as to enable heave-duty equipment to traverse it, including logging trucks. Further, Guyana Forestry Commission maps seen by Stabroek News indicate a proposed road alignment by Baishanlin, with the map showing no indication that a road was present in the area; it only refers to the proposed road. The road was constructed over the past several months.
Harmon said yesterday that public officials should not breach the law and said that anyone who gave the go-ahead for the building of the road would be guilty of an offence including “malfeasance in public office.”
The APNU official asserted that the minister responsible for the sector should be “brought to board.” Minister of Natural Resources and the En-vironment Robert Persaud “must be held accountable,” Harmon declared, while adding that President Donald Ramotar must put his foot down. He emphasized that the road had been built without the required approvals and “they should bring a halt to it.”
At the Apoteri meeting, Khan, after numerous concerns were expressed, said that the road-building would halt immediately.
Harmon asserted that Baishanlin has been given a free pass by the government to do what it wants. The manner in which government has dealt with the company, he said, “gives it leave to do what they want.” He declared that it is “absolutely wrong” for the company to affect the livelihoods of the people as well as the ecosystem of the country. He said that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) would have required consultations but the company treats such processes with disrespect. “It is not just what Baishanlin is doing, it is what they are allowed to do,” Harmon asserted.
The APNU official noted that for similar projects in the Amazon, the indigenous people who opposed the projects had blocked roads and sat on equipment. “We may have to get to that point so that the people understand that the laws of the country must be respected by all,” Harmon asserted. “We cannot continue to behave in a docile manner when people feel they can do what they want because they have the backing of a corrupt government.”
According to Harmon, for every agency that Baishanlin has dealt with, the company does not seem to have to go through the process like everybody else. The natural resources of the country cannot be dealt with in this manner, he said. “We have to ensure that our ecosystems are protected, we have to ensure that out indigenous peoples’ rights are protected,” Harmon declared.
Baishanlin has applied to the EPA for permission to begin large-scale logging and sawmilling operations at its forest concessions in Regions Six and Nine, and in its project summary the controversial Chinese company had said that in the preparatory phase, activities would include establishing initially more than 196 km of all-weather roads to allow access to the concession area.
According to the company, the all-weather roads will incorporate a number of bridges and culverts and the establishment of a number of borrow pits. The construction of the roads will lead to the felling of trees along the planned road alignment, it had said.
As the company moves forward with its plans, several issues have cropped up including the road as well as conflict of interest issues in relation to the consultant doing the ESIA and a top EPA official.
The authorities have been aware of the presence of the road and Commis-sioner of Forests James Singh told a meeting of the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee (MSSC) on August 20 that a separate ESIA must be done for any road that needs to be built. According to the minutes of the MSSC meeting: “Enquiry was made on whether the roads that are being built to access concessions are subject to any environmental impact assessment. It was replied that a separate environmental social impact assessment (ESIA) must be done for any road that needs to be built.” Persons present at the meeting had told Stabroek News that Singh had been questioned about the road.
The Forestry Commis-sioner statement that a separate ESIA must be done for any road that needs to be built stands in contrast to Parsram’s statement at the Apoteri meeting that the road would be covered under the current ESIA.
Baishanlin has an-nounced big plans in various sectors for Guyana but concerns have been raised by some analysts that its primary interest is logs for export with little downstream processing.
Baishanlin’s access to key parts of the economy have also raised questions about the regulation of its business by the forestry commission and associated bodies.
It has access to over half a million hectares of forests.
