Natural Resources and the Environment Minister Robert Persaud yesterday met with representatives of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) and the Forest Producers Association (FPA) yesterday to ensure operations continue at logging and mining camps in the interior, which have been almost cut off as a result of the continuing protest in Linden, in Region 10.
Transportation of fuel and food into mining camps are currently at a standstill in light of the protests and the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported yesterday that the ministry is implementing “alternative mechanisms” to ensure that produce enters mining camps at a low cost. It also said that the ministry is developing alternative routes and establishing a hotline number so that affected forestry and mining operators can make contact with it.
President of the GMSA, Mohindra Chand, updated the Minister on the difficulty of getting produce taken into the backdams. “We have been getting lot of calls from businesses as they are currently unable to get anything through the road blocks…apart from the price gouging for basic foodstuff, we are forced to have our produce air-dashed and this is costing us a lot,” Chand was quoted as saying.
Chand pledged on behalf of the forestry industry to give the necessary support to the Ministry, while stating that there is currently little fuel supplies left in Kwakwani, Region Ten, where a significant amount of logging is being done.
The FPA representative Khalawan (only name) added that there is no means of getting even cash into the camps. “We have to pay workers as well as manage our operations…..we would normally rely on getting cash from the banks in Linden but this is a no- no because of the situation,” he said.
According to Khalawan, over 25 workers have since been let go from his Coldingen, East Coast location as he is unable to have lumber to supply its operations. Buyers are also threatening legal actions against suppliers for breach of their contractual arrangements to supply on time.
Minister Persaud while acknowledging the situation, committed to ensuring the alternatives are developed so that work can progress, as buyers are cancelling their orders on the basis that Guyana is unreliable, GINA added.
