A concrete batching company that established illicit operations near to South Ruimveldt Gardens is now setting up a plant at McDoom on the East Bank of Demerara and has been told that no impact survey is needed.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that the establishment of the concrete plant at McDoom by Superior Concrete does not warrant an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
The application was lodged for Superior Concrete by Ian Jones who had been expelled from the country after infractions of his work permit and regulatory orders. He had also verbally abused Minister of Housing, Collin Croal and members of a CH&PA team. It is unclear if the submission by Jones on behalf of the company would have any impact on its application.
Government has said that Jones would not be welcomed back given his past behaviour but that the company would be allowed to operate here.
On Tuesday, the EPA notified in the Guyana Chronicle and on its website that following screening of the proposed project – the establishing of a concrete batching plant at Plot 7 Gafoors Road, McDoom – the agency determined that the project would not affect the environment. It is to this end that the EPA said that it was exempting the project from conducting an EIA.
Superior Concrete says that it proposes to install and operate a concrete batching plant on one acre of land at the GYSBI Annexe; an existing industrial area located at McDoom. “The perimeter shall be fenced with a chain link fence and gate at the NE corner of the compound, for entry and exit,” the proposal states.
“The batching plant will have a mixer unit, two sealed vertical cement silos and an aggregate hopper/weighing unit. Sand and coarse aggregate [crushed stone] will be stored in heaped piles on site. There will also be a containerised office, water tank, storage container and toilet. The concrete batching process involves the cement, sand, aggregate, and water delivered by conveyor to the mixer unit and combined to produce a batch of the designed mix of concrete. The batch of concrete is delivered to the concrete mixer truck for delivery to a construction site outside of the compound,” the project summary notes.
Cement, of the Rock Hard Cement brand, will be delivered in bulk via sealed tanker truck and vacuumed into the cement silos.
“The cement is delivered from the silo to the mixer unit by a closed pipe. Once the cement is mixed with the aggregates and water in the mixer unit, it is no longer a dust hazard. The concrete batching area is contained by a sand berm to collect and prevent any potential cement water running off of the surface into the drainage system. A washout bund will be installed on site, for waste concrete products to be stored in. The water will evaporate or be pumped out of the bund and recycled. The dried concrete waste will be crushed and recycled,” the proposal explains.
The company, Superior Concrete Inc., was registered in Guyana on 16 February, 2021. “Superior Concrete is the premier provider of high quality, full specification concrete in Guyana. With a new, state of the art concrete batching plant operated by expert batchers and an initial fleet of three US standard reconditioned mixer trucks, Superior Concrete Inc. will deliver solid, consistent results with every batch of concrete,” its profile states.
Of its management team, the company said that its principals are Maxwell Snow and Jones.
A summary of the portfolios states for Snow, “Maxwell Snow – Managing Director – is an American entrepreneur, his international portfolio has a primary business focus in real estate, sales and has made several investments into manufacturing, construction, and logistics. Maxwell has invested and worked in Russia, France, UK, USA, Japan, Germany, Afghanistan, Denmark, and Kyrgyzstan.”
And for Jones, it reads, “Ian Jones – Technical Director – has worked in the construction and engineering industry for the past 25 years. Ian has been living in Guyana since November 2019 and formerly worked as the Project Manager on the Exxon headquarters build for Nabi/ KCL. Ian has delivered construction projects throughout the Caribbean since 2006 and is a former board member of the Digicel Foundation in Haiti.”
Both Snow and Jones were executives of the company when it started construction of a cement plant at S5 Area ‘S’, Houston, in May of this year.
Then, Jones and another director – Richard Shamlin, had verbally abused Croal and his team when they carried out a surprise visit to their operation site, following concerns that they did not meet necessary regulatory compliance.
The company had been served three notices of contravention by the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and the Ministry of Housing and Water and was asked to cease works after it was not granted permission for any works for the construction of a concrete manufacturing facility adjacent to South Ruimveldt Gardens.
Shamlin and Jones were both given seven days to leave the country after the verbal attack on Croal, CH&PA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sherwyn Greaves, and others, who had made an impromptu visit to observe what was happening on the site on May 11.
Snow was served with the third contravention notice from staff of the Enforcement Department of the Ministry of Housing and Water.
Croal had said that he was baffled by the reaction from the directors of the company and that the attack was uncalled for. He noted that his visit there had been merely to ensure that the developers were compliant with the cease order and to remind them of the importance of following procedure.
Later, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo announced that the duo, who were abusive, would not be allowed back in Guyana to conduct business for their behaviours and illegal acts. “The company is welcomed here but not these two people who believe they can disparage this country and act illegally, they are not welcome here,” Jagdeo had said.
He explained that government welcomes the investment and had urged the company to be compliant with all regulatory processes before resuming operations. Against this background, he disclosed that requests made by the company to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and G-Invest for concessions have been put on hold until all regulatory processes are followed.
It is unclear if those processes were followed.
