By Jeff Trotman
The Region Ten Demo-cratic Council (RDC) continues to be concerned at the manner in which the Linden-Kwakwani Road and internal roads in Kwakwani are being repaired and maintained by Baishanlin and one group led by Phillip Bynoe without the RDC being officially updated on the nature and progress of the works.
“We don’t know the scope,” Regional Chair-man Sharma Solomon said at the RDC’s November statutory meeting. “As far as we were told the Ministry of Public Works will provide the machinery. Somebody will provide the fuel. Somebody will provide the materials on the road and to date, the road has not advanced to show there has been any significant repairs on the road.”
APNU Councillor Maurice Butters said when he visited Kwakwani recently, the internal road that Chinese logging company Baishanlin had been working on “looked good”. He said this was so because of the prolonged dry season. He said that after a few days, he noted that work had stopped and when he enquired about the reason for the stoppage, he was told that Baishanlin was requesting fuel to continue the road repairs. He said that he was also told that Baishanlin is assisting by making trucks available for the road repairs and some other entity would have to provide the fuel.
Butters, Chairman of the Region Ten Health and Environment Committee, said he attended an environmental meeting in Kwakwani, which discussed two factories the company has proposed to build – one in Region Nine and one in Region Six – and when he asked about the Linden Kwakwani Road, Bynoe, the Chairman of the Linden Kwakwani Road Users Association, said that sometime next year, the committee would seek funding from the Chinese Ambassador to build an asphalt road.
According to Solomon, Baishanlin was only pretending to assist with the road because the community was putting extreme pressure on the company. He said the residents wanted to know four things: (1) what is the agreement signed by Baishanlin and the government; (2) they wanted to be involved in any future agreement between the government and Baishanlin – represented by representatives of the Region; (3) they are demanding a better rate of payment for the loggers; (4) that attention be paid to the Linden-Kwakwani Road.
Recalling that the demands were ventilated at a meeting of Kwakwani residents and stakeholders, Solomon said the loggers association had invited him to that meeting but on the same day, prominent members of the loggers association when off to a hastily called meeting in Georgetown and proclaimed that Baishanlin was operating as a good corporate citizen in the community. He said as a result of the meeting of residents and stakeholders, two things have happened: (1) Baishanlin has done some work on the road; (2) although, the loggers had betrayed the residents and other stakeholders, Baishanlin has acceded to the residents and stakeholders’ demand of meeting with the loggers to increase and improve the price of lumber sold to the company.
Responsibility
“Outside of that, we have no knowledge,” Solomon said, adding that without the involvement of all stakeholders, including the RDC, it is only a matter of time before Baishanlin would stop fixing the road, which is also being used by other people and entities.
He highlighted that one group must take full responsibility for what is happening with that road since it went ahead on the road project with Baishan-lin, leaving out the other stakeholders. “The loggers association will have to take full responsibility for that road …. They have established the loggers and road users association and they have accepted that they will work with Baishanlin to fix the road. To date, we still have concerns about the quality of work done on that road.”
APNU Councillor Gregory Parkinson said that he was annoyed that “the statutory body (the RDC) is left out”. He said it’s the government’s responsibility to fix roads within the nation, but the government is running away from its responsibility. “Now, Bynoe and Baishanlin have a deal outside of the Region and the government’s participation ….”
Solomon cautioned Parkinson not to personalize his assertions but, rather, to say small loggers association. “Whatever,” Parkinson retorted, “I am saying that the true concept of private/public partnership participation is good. But there should be some level of accountability – and in this situation the government is not being accountable and the Region is being locked out … and this could have far reaching implications.”
Proactive
The Regional Chairman then suggested that the RDC meet with the residents of Kwakwani to hear their views on the road situation. Councillor Butters said the RDC has discussed the matter at a number of statutory meetings and it is time the council meets with the stakeholders because as the situation stands, the RDC has no idea about what is happening with respect to the road. It was also suggested that a representative from the Ministry of Public Works should attend that meeting to discuss a way forward for a coordinated maintenance programme for the Linden Kwakwani Road.
Favour
However, APNU Councillor Charles Sampson opined that although people might refer to it as fulfilling its corporate responsibility, Baishanlin is doing a favour in fixing the road. Highlighting that Baishanlin is a private company, Sampson said: “We cannot dictate at what pace they should do the road. They’re spending their money and they are doing a favour. The roads at Kwakwani are the responsibility of the Region or the Central government and if an outside entity with the cooperation of people, whom it’s patronizing, decide they’re going to do a road, my question is: how do we get into that arrangement in terms of getting heads together to give you timelines and all of that? How do we get into that?”
Solomon responded by saying involvement becomes the responsibility of the people’s representatives. “You cannot say you’re doing something on behalf of the people and the people don’t know the scope. They don’t even know what you’re doing … and we should not be so grateful that we forgo our sovereignty of oversight.”
Although Sampson agreed that the concessions government gives to private companies should be questioned, he insisted that a private company cannot be forced to do something that the government and the Region are supposed to do. “You could ask them to participate yes. But … these are situations that put the Region in a very funny position.”
Reiterating that the people of Kwakwani do not know what is Baishanlin’s status in terms of its operation at Kwakwani, Solomon added: “They don’t even have an ESIA (Environmental and Social Impact Assessment) to assess whether they are impacting our environmental or social outcome of our people. If the government isn’t doing it, we have to make Baishanlin accountable; that is our job and mandate on behalf of our people. They are using our roads with excessive amount of trucks. They are participating in the destruction of our roads and if the government is not going to hold them accountable, we (the RDC) have every right to tell them they have to do something about the roads that they’re using … and if the government, who signed an agreement that they are unwilling and unprepared to show the people of this Region and the people of this country, we will ask of that from the company because apparently the company is getting more representation from the government than the people. And if the people have to ensure they hold the company accountable then so be it.”
Baishanlin has come under intense scrutiny in recent months over the extent of its log exports from Guyana.
