Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman says that Malaysian timber firm Barama Company Limited’s forest concession will be renewed but the agreement has to be renegotiated to make it stronger.
Barama is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samling Global Limited and has been established in Guyana since 1991. Barama was granted a lowland, mixed tropical forest concession for approximately 1.6 million hectares in the Northwest region of Guyana.
The Government In-formation Agency (GINA) reported that Trotman on Saturday toured the company’s Buck Hall, Essequibo operations.
GINA said that the tour was organised amidst discussions between the company and the Government of Guyana for a renewal of Barama’s operations agreement which expires in October 2016. Trotman had an opportunity to get a first-hand look at the company’s working environs and operations which currently exist.
According to GINA, Trotman said that the visit was timely and high on his agenda since Government would like to build on the partnership which was established with the country in 1991.
“This visit was high up on our agenda. On our last visit here, some anxieties were expressed by the Managing Director and the General Manager and the investors back in Malaysia about whether the agreement will be renewed with the government.
We have given an assurance that yes, there will be a renewal but like all agreements there will be a need for negotiations to see how best we can make it stronger. We want to make it stronger not weaker,” he told the company representatives.
At Buck Hall, GINA said, Trotman met with Barama’s Chief Executive Officer Choo Siong Liew, General Manager Mohindra Chand, and Senior Manager with responsibility for Human Resources Patricia Mingo. The minister was briefed on the company’s operations, expansion plans and impact on the Guyanese economy.
Chand said that Barama has been one of the longest standing foreign companies in Guyana and while the challenges were many, giving up on the country will never be a consideration.
According to GINA, Chand said that more than $43 billion has been invested into its Guyana operations and further growth and development can be expected through the company once the renewal of the operations agreement is completed.
Trotman praised the company for choosing to stay and overcome the challenges faced in setting up its operations in Guyana.
“I want to congratulate you for achieving 24 years here. I know that it has been very difficult because sometimes you come to a country to invest; you see photographs and you see it on paper but getting on the ground and transforming it from an idea into a reality is something completely different.
We know that there were challenges, but you’ve overcome those,” he was quoted as saying.
Last month, Trotman had told Stabroek News that Barama had given a long list of excuses as it relates to why they were unable to fulfill their commitments. “I’ve held two meetings with them and they’ve pointed out to me what they say are some difficulties and so I did undertake to pay a visit before I make a public pronouncement,” Trotman had said.
Barama benefits from generous tax concessions and minister had told Stabroek News that he had emphasised to the company representatives that after two decades it is still to deliver to the nation on what it had promised. “They have raised what they consider to be mitigating facts and circumstances that prevented them from implementing fully but we now have… to look again to see how we can implement and what cannot be implemented we will have to set aside but those that they can, we intend to hold them to it,” he had said.
Trotman had noted that value-added is uppermost in government’s agenda. He had said that government will be pushing for logging and other companies operating here to do value-added processing locally and companies that do not fulfill their commitments would have to shape up or ship out.
There have been concerns that log exports is a significant part of Barama’s operations when it should be almost completely into value-added production.
