While lauding the investment of the offshore developer Tristar Incorporated at West Demerara, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo last Friday emphasised that investors must respect laws and policies governing the environment and all other areas.
“People have to follow the rules all over. It is a rules-based country…they all have to follow the rules,” Jagdeo told a news conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre in response to questions on government’s expectation of investors.
It is the first time government has openly chided the removal of the large swathes of mangroves to facilitate the development at Versailles/Malgre Tout.
Tristar Inc, which is currently constructing a shore base storage facility, has been heavily criticised for the destruction of large swathes of mangroves in the area. The company has also been accused by the Sea Defence Board of clearing more mangroves than it was permitted to.
Chairman of Guyana’s Sea Defence Board Brigadier (Ret’d) Gary Beaton had told Stabroek News that “They are in breach of the guidelines we offered with our no objection. They have destroyed the sea defence without building one area, and they were expected to provide a work plan and schedule but that was not done.”
According to Jagdeo, the Environmental Protec-tion Agency (EPA) is currently ironing out the issues of the absence of an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for the development.
Stabroek News had posed questions to the EPA close to two weeks ago and since then there has been no response.
The West Bank of Demerara is expected to see the development of wharves, construction of the government’s gas-to-shore project, and new roadways with connections to the new Demerara Harbour Bridge, among other things.
Jagdeo, nonetheless pointed out that every developer accessing riverfront lands will be required to invest and install defensive flooding mechanisms.
“We are still a carbon sink because of our forest but you have to put in the development for the people and it is crucial for Region Three,” Jagdeo pointed out.
However, with the West Bank of the Demerara River expected to see significant development within the next five to ten years, government is required to implement mitigating measures for carbon sequestration.
On that note, Jagdeo announced that the government is currently working with a European company to replant trees in mined out areas in the hinterland to boost Guyana’s carbon credits.
The reforestation drive is being funded under the Guyana Forestry Commis-sion to offset the impact of development he stated.
“Mitigating action will be taken. If you remove mangrove from there you can plant it somewhere else along the coast as well as in the Ituni and Kwakwani areas so there will be carbon credit,” he said and he pointed out that such measures establish a balance between development and environment.
Span
He related that the planned West Bank development will span from the mouth of the Demerara River all the way to Wales, opening up new commercial and residential opportunities.
“We made it clear that from the mouth of the river to Wales. We want it to grow like the city side, like how many countries are. It must become like the Georgetown side, where you have wharves and structures etcetera. The people in that region also need development,” he asserted.
Jagdeo explained that the development is imminent as it creates thousands of job opportunities for people. He noted that the development of the stretch will see the creation of approximately 20,000 to 30,000 jobs.
“I agree we must preserve mangroves. I was the President when the European Union gave €5 million to start the [restoration project]. We are preserving the mangrove fringe and expanding it along the coast line but we have to create jobs for our people,” he stated. “[We] have to have a balance in development and the environment. We have to move our country and people forward we have to develop our rivers and we have a duty to produce with the least impact on the environment,” Jagdeo emphasised.
He noted that there can be development and the country can still keep its environmental credentials intact.
However, critics have said the destruction of the mangroves is not only disturbing due to the lack of sea and river defence to protect against overtopping and excessive flooding but also the fact that livelihoods and eco-systems were destroyed and cannot be replaced. Critics have pointed out, too, that although it is argued that the company will be putting in the necessary measures to protect the communities against flooding, the structures will not function as carbon sequestration like mangroves do.
Aerial images commissioned by this newspaper show a devastating picture as a vast swathe of the mangrove forest has been cleared and the developers were in the process of clearing the final stretch of the protected plants on the foreshore.
A map outlining the project area and seen by this newspaper illustrates a significant difference in what was applied for and what was cleared for the development and construction of the shore base facility. In the map Tristar Inc had highlighted less than half of the amount of lands cleared as the project site, which stretches across Versailles and Malgre Tout. However, the aerial images clearly show that more than the identified project area was cleared of vegetation.
Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon has written to international agencies complaining of government’s approval of the destruction of mangroves.
In the letter, sent to key agencies, including Conservation International, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Common-wealth Secretariat, the Centre for International Forestry Research, and Amazon Conservation Team, Harmon said that the area intended to be utilised by Tristar Inc is a sanctuary and breeding ground for birds and marine life and pointed out that it is the developer’s intention to establish a shore base to service the ExxonMobil off shore oil exploration and production operations.
Responding to the letter sent, Jagdeo said the APNU+AFC is utilising the situation for political mileage as it was under the former government, ExxonMobil was permitted to flare gas from their offshore operation which is equivalent to over a million cubic feet of carbon dioxide emissions.
