Minister of Works Robeson Benn yesterday said his Ministry’s denial of an application by Muri Brasil Ventures Inc (MBVI) for an airstrip in the New River Triangle was in line with Government’s policy for the area and because of security concerns.
His statement came following a report in the last Sunday Stabroek that his ministry had denied an application by the company at the centre of a mushrooming controversy over how and why it was granted permission for surveys possibly leading to prospecting in the sensitive south east of the country.
Benn’s statement also put his ministry at odds with the Natural Resources Ministry which has repeatedly strongly defended the decision for the granting of the Permission for Geolo-gical and Geophysical Survey (PGGS) in the Muri Mountain area. The granting of the PGGS in November 2012 to MBVI has raised questions as to who in the Donald Ramotar administration decided that mining could be pursued in the area. Ramotar has said nothing thus far since Stabroek News first reported on the burgeoning scandal three weeks ago. While Ramotar has been silent, the Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon deepened the quagmire when he suggested that former President Bharrat Jagdeo might have signalled in favour of mining in the New River Triangle during his period in office.
Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud who signed the PGGS has not explained when a decision was taken to permit activities leading up to prospecting in the area.
Benn made his declaration during a press conference held at his Ministry yesterday on another matter. Asked why permission was denied to MBVI, Benn said that he would not be getting into the details. “I am saying it was not granted. It was a policy position to the general undertakings in the area and in respect of that policy position I believe that the approval was withheld,” he said. “There was an overall respecting of that policy position,” he said.
Benn said that the denial of the application to build the airstrip was taken in keeping with the policy of Government for the area and security concerns and denied that it had to do with the current media focus.
“An application was made for an airstrip in the Muri River area…in the Triangle area in southern Guyana and approval has not been granted. That had nothing to do with the current imbroglio in the press about who did what and didn’t do what with respect to the permission to do [mineral surveys],” he said. “This application was made a long time before this noise…this disputation in the press was undertaken. The question was whether you needed an airstrip in the area and whether the airstrip would present us with additional difficulties in security oversight,” he said.
“A number of considerations I believe in my own view were undertaken in respect of the establishment of an airstrip in the New River area and it has not been approved. It may be relooked at in the future for whatever reasons. I may point out that I also participated in the Muri Mountain expeditions back in the 1970s and the logistics was a particular issue. A lot of helicopter support and river traverses…it was a very difficult area to explore but there are other aerodromes which are closer to the area now,” he said.
On the question of security concerns, Benn said that this is an issue worthy of consideration. “Who will be there to see who lands and who does what at an airstrip?” he asked. “It is a constant bother,” he said.
Asked whether the PGGS will still go ahead, Benn said that he would not be able to answer and directed the question to the Minister “who deals with PGGSs.”
He said that he was not aware that his actions have stopped the work of the company with respect to the PGGS granted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.
Contacted for a comment on the denial of the permission for the airstrip, Alex Graham of Tagman Media, which is the agency handling Muri’s PR, stated, “Muri Brasil Ventures Inc. has seen a statement attributed to Minister Benn in the Stabroek News in which he indicated that permission has not been granted to the company to construct an airstrip to facilitate its survey in the area covered by the Permit which was granted to it in November, 2012. When this decision of the Government is formally conveyed to the company, it will then in due course have to determine the way forward, that is to say, how if at all the survey can proceed.”
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority was not involved in the decision relating to the MBVI application.
MBVI’s PGGS contains a clause allowing it to have up to 18 prospecting licences upon application to the GGMC. It was incorporated on July 16, 2012 long after its principals would have jointly or severally expressed interest in surveys in the south east. That advertisement supposedly ran for only 11 days in March, 2012 and Stabroek News has been unable establish in which medium exactly it was carried. The running of the invitation for only 11 days would point in the direction of an intention to limit the number of expressions of interest.
In an advertisement in the December 18th , 2013 edition of Stabroek News, the Ministry of Natural Resources said in part “The New River Area belongs to Guyana and there is no agreement that forbids aerial surveys or such related activities under the PGGS. The issuance of the PGGS to Muri Brasil Ventures Inc. is a legal, clear and undisputed act of national sovereignty”.
Several former GDF heads have said there was a policy against New River Triangle mining. The area is also seen as ecologically sensitive.
Minister Persaud has been accused by members of the Natural Resources Committee of parliament and the Guyana Human Rights Association of misleading them on the Muri Brasil Ventures survey. One member of the parliamentary committee, Joseph Harmon has since called on the minister to resign.
