The Chinese logging company Bai Shan Lin Forest Development Inc has been accused of carrying out unlawful works at Moblissa, Linden, and refusing to sign a Cease Work Order (CWO) served on it by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
Bai Shan Lin has been removing laterite, a type of soil, from the community of Moblissa for the construction of a two-mile road at Bamia. The company, which has been operating in the area since the last quarter of last year, was served with three CWOs so far, with the last being served on Tuesday.
Region Ten Chairman Sharma Solomon told Stabroek News in an interview that the activities of Bai Shan Lin have the potential for a major environmental disaster. He said that the operations are being carried out without any respect for the environment and a total disregard for the involvement of all the agencies responsible for the actions carried out by Bai Shan Lin in Moblissa and Bamia, such as the GGMC.
Due to the unsafe environmental practices of the company, the Region Ten Regional Democratic Council is calling for an environmental assessment to be done to state how Bai Shan Lin will repair the damage it has caused to the communities and “to also say what sort of environmental assessment was done on the two miles road…,” the Regional Chairman said.
GGMC Commissioner Rickford Vieira said that the Minister of Natural Resources should be contacted for a comment on the matter when this newspaper spoke with him.
Deputy General Manager of Bai Shan Lin, Girwar Lalaram said his company has not broken any rules or regulations and that they intend to adhere to the rules of the country if they are operating here. He also said that permission was given to them to clean the Moblissa area. “It is not that we have not been in communication with the people…we have had meeting with them…,” he explained.
Lalaram also said that a more comprehensive response from the company will be given after a meeting scheduled for this week is held and all the facts are put on the table. He added that the project Bai Shan Lin is doing is a large project that creates employment and expands trade from Guyana to the Caribbean and South America, with the technology and the product they will produce.
But Solomon said that laterite is being removed from an area where farming is done and it is causing significant damage to the $40M farm road that was recently constructed. He said that the road is being damaged because of “the heavy duty equipment that traverses to the laterite pit…”
He also said that “the construction of the pit is not within any environmental and mining regulations… [and] it is in close proximity to the farm road, which threatens the integrity of the road.”
To date, the amount of laterite that was removed from Moblissa was 37,000 tonnes, the chairman added.
As it pertains to the land at Bamia, Solomon said that government holding company, the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), leased the land to the company without the involvement of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the GGMC, the Lands and Survey Commission or the Region Ten Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and “without having any understanding of what is taking place.”
He said the land was leased with the understanding that large scale logging will be conducted on it. “What has been noted at the site is a two miles unsanctioned road which would have required about six to eight hundred loads of sand and laterite for its construction,” he, however, noted.
Solomon further went on to state that the same land was also leased to farmers, but an agreement was entered into with the company and the farmers. The agreement was that the farmers would be compensated for their removal from the lands after an assessment was done by the Ministry of Agriculture to ascertain the cost of their interest. To date, the farmers have not received their compensation, he added.
Solomon also noted that without information, they do not know how Bai Shan Lin investments will benefit the region because they are not aware of the investment in itself.
