President David Granger is to address a meeting of the Guyana-China Business Council (GCBC) on Thursday, a release from the council said yesterday.
The meeting will take place at 2.30 pm at the Guyana International Conference Centre at Liliendaal which is to be renamed for the late President Arthur Chung.
Observers say that Thursday’s meeting is likely to be interesting on several grounds. While in opposition, the APNU+AFC alliance had expressed deep reservations over several major projects that Chinese companies have been involved in here.
Prime among these are the forestry company Baishanlin which with its affiliates has also ventured into housing and mining. Separately and together, APNU and the AFC have highlighted local concerns about log exports by Baishanlin without the company living up to its value-added commitments. Numerous questions have also been raised about the transparency of Baishanlin’s operations, its tax concessions and the extent of its involvement in other key sectors of the economy.
Further, the legality of its landlording arrangement with a series of other forest concessionaires has also been queried as the law that would cover this was brought into force long after this arrangement had begun. Logs have still, however, been drawn from various concessions.
During their time in opposition, APNU and AFC, which now make up the current administration, had called for the foreign direct investment contract with Baishanlin to be made public. This was never done.
Also under scrutiny has been the China Harbour and Engineering Corporation (CHEC) which is the contractor for the planned major expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri. Both APNU and the AFC had raised strong reservations about the secrecy surrounding the deal between the former PPP/C government and China for the financing of the deal.
The secret conclusion of the contract between the government and CHEC had also been criticised by the opposition. Further, the terms of the contract with CHEC had come in for withering attack over perceived inflation of the cost of items. As a result of their dissatisfaction with the project, the then opposition APNU and AFC had combined to vote against allocations for the airport expansion project in the 2013 budget.
The CJIA $5.35 billion expansion was cut from the budget estimates along with the rest of the Air Transport Programme budget.
With the swearing in of the new APNU+AFC administration, eyebrows were recently raised at the presentation by Baishanlin International Forest Development of $1M to the government-led clean-up efforts which started at Independence Arch two Sundays ago.
Managing Director Chu Hongbo presented the cheque to Chief Coordinator Laurie London in the presence of Assistant Coordinator Bobby Vieira, the company said in a press release. London thanked Baishanlin for its contribution and reiterated government’s commitment to work with all foreign investors.
According to the statement, Baishanlin is pleased to be associated with the clean-up activities and looks forward to forging a long-term relationship with the Guyanese people. Hongbo also revealed plans to adopt a section of the D’Urban Park area and has already provided several pieces of equipment to aid in cleaning the area.
Not to be outdone, CHEC also donated $1M on May 22, 2015 to assist in the clean-up activities.
In an earlier release, the Guyana-China Business Council said the $1M was part of $5.5M it raised for the ongoing clean-up work around Georgetown and its environs. Chairman of the Council, Clinton Williams said a number of companies had come on-board.
Another major Chinese company, China Railway First Group (CRFG) (Guyana) Inc has been caught up in the confrontation between the former PPP/C government and the then opposition over the Amaila Falls Hydropower project. This company also attracted negative attention over the awarding of land to it by government holding company, NICIL on the East Coast of Demerara and the awarding of a US$57.6M contract to it for a section of the East Coast Demerara Highway.
Deed of Gift
Last year, NICIL disclosed the transfer, “by way of Deed of Gift, from government of two lots of land, one acre at Liliendaal (completed) and 7.5 acres at Friendship (in the process of being transferred).
The CRFG would use the land at Liliendaal for building their Head Office and the land at Friendship for a materials marshaling yard.”
NICIL revealed that this was among the terms, approved by Cabinet, for CRFG’s construction of a difficult section of the Amaila Falls access road and the extension of its Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contract Price Validity.
In addition to the land, NICIL said that as part of the negotiations between CRFG and NICIL, a reduction of the amount of its original bid of US$11.2M for the construction of the road to a cash contract price of US$8.5M was negotiated, representing a 25% reduction.
NICIL’s statement came over a month after the land transfer was first raised by leader of the Alliance for Change Khemraj Ramjattan at a press briefing last year May. Ramjattan has requested that the government explain the land transfer and why there was no price attached.
In relation to the road contract, the government sidelined a proposal made by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board and gave instructions for an award and subsequent no-objection to the CRFG, based upon lobbying by a former senior member of government.
Another major Chinese company, the Shanghai Construction Group was pilloried for using only imported Chinese labour in the construction of the controversial Marriott Hotel.
These issues aside, the local business community has frequently raised concerns about Chinese entrepreneurs setting up in the retail sector and forcing small operators out of business. There have been complaints from the business community that there is not a level playing field as many of the Chinese entrepreneurs do not operate with their overheads.
Concerns have also been raised about a number of Chinese citizens applying for naturalization for the sole reason of participating in the local mining sector or using Guyana as a springboard to migrate north.
Yesterday’s release from the business council said that current Chairman of the GCBC, Clinton Williams, said that invitations have been sent to members, affiliates and non-members of the Council.
He said that the primary purpose of this special meeting is to facilitate the “exchange of ideas that will craft a way forward, as well as to discuss issues specific to the conduct of business in the various sectors of the economy in which Chinese investors and immigrants are involved.”
The release added that Zhang Limin, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, has also been invited to the special meeting. The release said that he is expected to speak about the bilateral trade relations and social contracts between Guyana and China which “he recently said have been maintained on a sound and stable developmental footing since diplomatic ties were established between” the two countries.
The release said that Guyana-China Business Council has been operating under the umbrella of the Private Sector Commission for more than 10 years. It went into abeyance for a while and was revived in 2012.
