Dear Editor,
Reference is made to articles (news reports and letters over last several days) pertaining to destruction of mangroves on the Demerara River waterfront and the TriStar shore-based project as well as Shamshun Mohamed’s call (May 11) to shut down the project until the mangrove destruction is addressed. There are allegations of violations of environmental permits. Foreign Environmental and Climate groups should be approached for assistance to protect the mangrove and the environment.
One should expect some kind of setback to the environment when there is development, but it should be mitigated. Some portion of the mangrove is required to be cleared for the project to proceed. But environmentalists say it is excessive, going way beyond the area for which a permit was granted. It will do irreparable harm to the environment.
The country should welcome diaspora investors but there must also be local partners and responsible development and respect for international and domestic laws? In other words, a company, local or foreign, should not run roughshod over laws. All local government agencies said the permit was restricted for the project. Yet, TriStar went ahead and cleared mangroves. It must be held accountable. It must be fined and forced to replant mangroves.
Is the project and the violation of the permit being done with full knowledge of the political elite (the clique that runs the government)? TriStar is a foreign company. Who owns the former Versailles estate land where the shore base would be located? When was it acquired by TriStar? Some years ago, the land was acquired by the Bobby Ramroop group of companies from the Vieiras. Has Ramroop, a close friend of President Irfaan and Vice President Jagdeo, sold the land to TriStar or are they co-owners of the proposed shore base? The bottom line is that friends of the political leadership are involved in the project. Will it be approved in whatever form they want?
Is this another salt soup arrangement whereby the public is being forcibly fed something that is simply not palatable? We must rail against destruction of the environment (mangroves). The investors and owners of the shore base must be held accountable even if their friends run the government.
Yours truly,
Thomas Whitehead
