Stabroek Business has learnt that the Ministry of Business may now be contemplating a new date, before the end of December, for the restart of scrap metal exports but that the measures will remain temporary since the creation of a structure for the permanent restart of the trade remains incomplete.
Checks with the ministry earlier this week failed to secure confirmation that metal exporters may finally be able to move stock to buyers abroad before year end, though this newspaper did receive assurances that the process of restarting the trade was being speeded up.
This latest information of the status of a trade which is legal but which some pundits are suggesting should be outlawed in view of the illegalities linked to it including the theft of metals, comes almost a year after the trade was closed by government in order to address irregularities, not least the protestations of key infrastructure agencies that their installations are being pillaged by metal thieves.
Legitimate scrap metal exporters have been seeking to distance themselves from the metal thieves though some dealers have conceded to this newspaper that there are instances in which the line between legitimate scrap operations and those that have connections with metal thieves can be thin.
During an interview with the Guyana Metal Dealers Association (GMDA) Secretary Michael Benjamin on Monday, this newspaper was informed that the industry was yet to be notified of any development pointing to the imminent resumption of the trade. Benjamin has charged that the authorities continue to treat the trade as though it was in itself illegitimate, failing to take account of what he said was the need to separate the legitimate metal trade from the culprits. “It is a challenge but it is a challenge that has to be met because the trade is legal,” Benjamin said earlier this week. We have an association and frankly we can start a process that begins with us getting some respect from the ministry.”
On Monday a pensive Benjamin refused to become excited over news that the one-year wait for the trade to reopen may finally come to an end shortly. “We have been told different things at different times. There was the November assurance and now we are being told that something might happen before year end. We are living in a situation of promises and uncertainty. It cannot go on like this,” he said. He added that at that time that he considered it “bad form” that the ministry continued to fail to communicate with the association at critical times during what he said was a situation that continued to affect the “bread and butter” of legitimate businessmen.
Stabroek Business has learnt that the Ministry of Business is likely to release a public statement shortly (possibly before the publication of this story) providing details of arrangements for the ‘reopening’ of the trade that will address, among other things, the licensing of exports. This newspaper understands that the ministry may go ahead with what is perhaps best described as a provisional re-opening of the export trade pending the full creation of the new infrastructure for the administration of the sector. One part of the new structure yet to be set up is the creation of a human resource regime to service the sector though this newspaper has learnt that this ought to be in place within six weeks and that a temporary arrangement for the services is to be provided until the new structure is in place.
