Following reports that Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohammed has been granted four quarrying licences for development, BK International yesterday registered its objection saying that the areas granted overlap acre-age it has already applied for and prospected on.
However, sources close to the process explained that an application being processed does not mean that the applicant is guaranteed to be granted permission for the areas sought. Further, the source pointed out that the gazetted notice of intent for use of the area gives persons with a vested interest, like BK Quarries Inc, the very opportunity being used, to make a challenge or objection.
“BK Quarries Inc. is challenging the decision by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) over what appears to be a decision to grant four quarry licenses to Hadi’s World Inc. of Lot 29 Lombard Street, Georgetown. Hadi’s World Inc. is owned by local businessman Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed,” the company yesterday said in a statement.
“The Notices of Intention to grant these four applications which were published by the GGMC in the Official Gazette in favor of Hadi’s World Inc. describes an area which overlaps the 2018 application made by BK Quarries Inc. This 2018 application being for the same area which was granted to BK Quarries Inc. as Prospecting License (PL-B70) since July 21, 2014,” the statement added.
This newspaper yesterday reached out to Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, and GGMC Commissioner Newell Dennison, but they did not reply to either calls or messages.
On Monday, Stabroek News reported that Mohamed had applied to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for authorisation for four quarry operations and had stated that he was optimistic that his proposed business will be granted all the necessary permits so that he could tap into current and future demand for stone and aggregate.
The EPA’s notice had stated that applications had been received from Mohamed’s companies: Hadi’s Kwapau Quarry Areas 1 and 2, and Atana Quarry Block 1 and 2, for environmental authorisation. Both operations are located in the Mazaruni River, Essequibo, Mazaru-ni Mining District 3.
BK Quarries Inc yesterday stated that it saw in the Official Gazette of February 5 that GGMC had the intent to grant Hadi’s licences for the areas sought and thus raised an objection.
Permission
BK Quarries said that it had permission for prospecting in the area processed with GGMC dating back to 2014, when the PPP/C was in office, and had applied for quarry licences in 2018 for the same area.
BK Quarries Inc applied for a Quarry Licence on August 16, 2018, for the area subject to Prospecting Licence B-70. This Quarry Licence application was designated B-1000/000/18. Two years later, after letters dated May 21, 2019 and July 17, 2019, the Commissioner of GGMC wrote to BK Quarries Inc advising that the application for B-1000/000/18 was “being considered seriously at the level of the Board of Directors.” On January 9, 2020, BK Quarries Inc agreed to meet with the GGMC and the Technical Sub Commit-tee. “The meeting took place on January 14, 2020, to discuss the application B-1000/000/18,” the company said as it gave a timeline of the process it has followed.
Further it added, “There were several commitments arising from the meeting, one such commitment from BK Quarries Inc. being that the company identifies 4,460 acres out of the total area (9,364acres) which was originally applied for. BK Quarries promptly submitted a map to this effect. There was another meeting on June 17, 2020 to follow up on the application B-1000/000/18. The following day the company again submitted a map with the reduced acreage as discussed on 14 January 2020.”
More letters were to follow, according to BK, as on July 2, 2020, GGMC requested a detailed cartographic description of the reduced areas of interest. GGMC, BK said, needed this information to continue processing the application.
On August 6, 2020, four days after the PPP/C took office, BK Quarries said that the request by GGMC was satisfied but the company received no feedback. It would send another letter to the GGMC on December 9, 2020.
Then last January, BK Quarries said that the GGMC sent the company a letter contending that the application for the 9,364 acres exceeded the 4,500 acres approved by the GGMC for the favourable processing of application B-1000/000/18 to which the company responded by yet again submitting a map along with cartographic details for the adjusted acreage. That correspondence was sent on January 12, 2021.
On January 20, BK Quarries received correspondence from the GGMC stating that “all quarry licences extant and otherwise are to be reviewed by the Commission’s Board of Directors.” GGMC, the company said, also asked that patience be exercised by the quarrying company and that “should there be any additional requests pertaining to your application, you will be duly notified.”
However, in 2021 the Official Gazette published information that the GGMC had an intent to grant the four quarry licences to Hadi’s World Inc.
BK Quarries said that when the company checked the areas gazetted, it showed that some of the areas being granted to Hadi’s World Inc “overlay areas already applied for by BK Quarries Inc. under licence B-1000/000/18.”
Favourable
According to BK Quarries, Hadi’s World Inc’s application was only made in December of 2020, some two years after BK had already prospected the area and had applied to have the prospecting licence converted to a quarry licence.
“It should not escape notice that the last correspondence from GGMC to BK Quarries Inc. was dated January 20, 2021 and indicated that any further requirements of the GGMC would be communicated to the applicant,” the company contended.
While it did not give a date of when the meeting was held, BK Quarries stated that it knows that at the most recent meeting of the GGMC’s board to deliberate on the four applications made by Hadi’s World Inc, the issue of the Official Gazette publications dated February 5, 2021, was raised. This alone, BK argues, was evidence that the applications were yet to be approved by the Board.
As such, the company charged that, “the notice of intention to grant as published in the Official Gazette was made without the applications being approved by the Board.”
“…The Board has concluded that the publishing of the notices in the gazette while the application was yet to be approved by the board was improper and possibly illegal,” according to BK Quarries.
The company said that it has since contacted its lawyers to voice its objection to the granting of the four licences to Hadi’s World Inc on locations already applied for by the company because it felt it would be favourably considered.
“The company had legitimate expectations that its application of 2018 would have been favourably considered and has cooperated with the GGMC in every way to satisfy the requirements of the commission. It is therefore asking GGMC to withdraw the Notice of Intention to grant the licences to Hadi’s World Inc. and complete the processing and issuance of its 2018 application,” BK Quarries said.
But one official explained that as the matter is being reviewed by the Board of the GGMC, all claims would be looked at. At the same time, the official reasoned, having an application for a licence, regardless of whether it was prospected on by a person or company, does not give that person or company the legal right to approval of their applications.
“It is always subject to a decision by the Board. Likewise, the notice by the Board of intention to grant is just that. It is not the granting of licence, but intent. That now gives the public and anyone with an objection to give that objection and show their grounds,” one source explained.
“Once there is a material objection, it is taken from there by the Board of the GGMC,” the source added.
Importance
While not commenting on the case itself, Attorney General Anil Nandall yesterday seized the opportunity to emphasise the importance of the public familiarising itself with the Official Gazette.
“This is a case in point that demonstrates the importance of perusing the Official Gazette. Had the Official Gazette not been read, then this challenge could not have been launched,” the Attorney General said.
“I don’t wish to comment on the merit or demerit of the competing interests involved. That is an issue that will be determined based on evidence and legal principles by an appropriate tribunal. I just wish to emphasise that it is the Official Gazette that was the mechanism which alerted the aggrieved party that is alleging their rights are being or are likely to be infringed,” he added.
An aggressive public sensitisation programme on the importance of reading and familiarisation of this country’s Official Gazette is to be shortly rolled out, Nandlall recently announced, even as his ministry begins work for the crafting of legislation to prevent land sale fraud.
“We also have to sensitise persons on the importance of the Official Gazette. The Official Gazette of every country is the official form of publication and dissemination of important information published by a government for the public consumption. Some are required by law to be published,” the Attorney General had told this newspaper.
“Every case fixed for trial in the High Court of Guyana is published in the Official Gazette. So one can know when a case or their case comes up for trial, by reading the Official Gazette. Every mortgage executed in Guyana is required to be published in the Official Gazette. So one can see if their property is being illegally mortgaged. Every law that is enacted by the parliament is required to be published in the Official Gazette. Every transport advertised for passing is advertised in the Official Gazette. This and a whole host of matters of national significance is required to be published, by law, in the Official Gazette. The Official Gazette is a fountain of important information for the public’s consumption,” he added while stressing the importance of making oneself familiar with the publication.
Nandlall noted that the Official Gazette sensitisation exercise was part of the process of the reformation of the Deeds Registry Act, as it hold vital information on land deals.
