The government will sell the problem-plagued High Street building that once housed the state radio station as part of a plan to relieve the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) from its current financial woes.
This was revealed by Minister of Natural, Raphael Trotman, who gave an update on his Ministry’s accomplishments so far for the year on Thursday at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, Liliendaal after he met with the representatives of the Boards of the GFC, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Gold Board (GGB).
Trotman was questioned on the GFC’s financial woes and whether the sale of the building is being considered. He stressed that the matter has been engaging the Ministry’s attention internally and they continue to work with both the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the GFC, and are also having discussion with the GGMC to bring the Forestry Commission back to full viability, and in some instances to make it better than before.
“The building is an eyesore. It is an embarrassment and I am told that vagrants are living in it… At the end of the day, GGMC has the transport and we are in a position where it is accepted that the building will be sold,” he explained.
Trotman said that the government has already begun the legal process but could not give a timeline on when it would be completed, but the building will be sold “as is” and whether the new owners would want to use it or take it down would be up to them.
The High Street complex was built in 2008, but has been the source of much controversy since then, owing to defects in its construction. It was built with funds derived from the GFC.
The 65,000-sq ft facility was initially intended to house the former Ministry of Labour, which at that time had offices scattered throughout the city. After it was abandoned, the compound became overgrown with grass and drug addicts subsequently occupied parts of the building.
It was next said to be earmarked for the Guyana Revenue Authority, but that entity had objected to using the building.
In August 2012, then Minister of Natural Resources Robert Persaud had announced that the government had transferred the building to the GGMC. The GGMC subsequently invited and evaluated bids for completion of the building but contention over the award saw the project put on hold and garnering the attention of Cabinet.
In 2017 it was intended to be rehabilitated for use by the Ministry of Social Protection. Those plans also fell through.
Trotman yesterday also pointed out that the Government is working towards the Commission accessing monies from the Guyana-Norway forest protection agreement and Cabinet has already given its support but the process will have to be facilitated through the Ministry of the Presidency.
Trotman also gave stats on the Commission’s achievements that have already been highlighted in the country’s mid-year economic report that was released earlier this month by Finance Minister Winston Jordan.
Wet season
The Natural Resources Minister also noted that they have seen some hinterland forestry roads suffering from deterioration due to a prolonged wet season which has been challenging. He said that Commissioner of the GGMC, Newell Dennison, at an earlier meeting had laid out some road works that have commenced and the contractors have already been mobilized.
The GGMC and the Ministry of Public Infrastructure will be sharing the responsibility for the hinterland roads. Trotman stressed that the GFC has taken more of a regulatory role.
He said that they have so far trained 543 persons from 63 community forestry organisations, with 35% of them being women under the Community Forestry Development Programme under the Food and Agriculture Organisation and EU-FLEGT Programme.
He also pointed out that through the Forestry Monitoring, Reporting and Verification System (MRVS) they have concluded that last year, the deforestation rate stood at 0.052%, which is one of the lowest rates ever recorded for the country and is one of the lowest rates globally and regionally.
“We are doing extremely well in maintaining the forests and we have to find better ways of earning from that,” Trotman stressed.
Trotman was also questioned on the current fires racing through the Amazon forest in Brazil. He said that those in the Amazonia region should be very concerned since the conditions that led to those fires could also occur here.
“We all should be concerned. We all should extend our support to Brazil to ensure that those fires are brought under control. I know, from time to time, we do have forest fires which are naturally occurring, but the scale in which we see the fires in Brazil does lead us to in fact be concerned. So, as a government we are concerned,” he said.
As it relates to gold, Trotman said they were able to hold four mining lotteries – two in Georgetown and one each in Port Kaituma and Bartica – and have already spoken to Dennison, urging him to start preparation for another lottery in Mahdia, where he said residents have complained about there not being sufficient land. He also noted that they have registered two mining syndicates in the area.
As it relates to the Ministry itself, he said that they have, with the help of GGMC and other partners, assisted 86 displaced sugar workers to be trained at the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s training school at Port Mourant and has also done community projects such as repairing a bridge in Stewartville, West Coast Demerara, community clean ups and restoring parks in other areas around the country.
