Mangroves have begun to spring up on the Malgre Tout/Versailles, West Demerara foreshore where they were destroyed last year to make way for the TriStar Inc oil and gas shore base facility.
The regrowth now raises the question as to whether the Florida, USA-based company will once again clear the mangroves when development of the land resumes. Mangroves are a protected species and it is illegal to remove them but the government has entertained this.
TriStar faced severe criticism last year over its destruction of the large swathe of mangroves from its 66-acre property at Versailles/Malgre Tout as part of preparatory works for its offshore base.
During a visit to the area last week, Stabroek News observed that acres of the shore base land have been covered by vegetation, a sign that infrastructural development has been dormant for months. Aerial drone shots commissioned last week by this newspaper showed that young mangroves have been thriving.
It is unclear what has caused the cessation of work on the shore base and Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill said that he will have to enquire about the delay as no information on this was related to him.
Promises by the developer to construct a sea defence out of steel sheets in the area where the mangroves were removed are still to be fulfilled.
This newspaper observed a large amount of steel sheets, to be used to construct the sea defence, accumulating rust and lying on a portion of land a short distance away from the project site.
Nearly 20,000 tonnes of steel sheet piles were being stockpiled by Tristar at its planned Malgre Tout offshore base as the company prepared to begin revetment works at the facility, Stabroek News reported last June.
Residents of Malgre Tout/Versailles that this newspaper spoke with last week said that there has been little to no flooding during spring tides. One man said that water normally accumulates in his backyard but it is unclear to him if the removal of the mangroves contributed to that or poor drainage in the area.
Public Works Minister, Edghill recently stated that even as the government’s position remains the same on the removal of mangroves to foster infrastructural development along the coast, this year the government will be planting more of the salt water-tolerant shrub to mitigate the impacts.
“Let us be very, very, very clear, as a government we are not going to be hamstrung where development of Guyana is concerned. Guyana will be developed in a sustainable way, in a responsible way and while there are some instances we remove a few mangroves, we will replanting more mangroves,” Edghill iterated during his recent year-in-review press conference.
Responding to the questions posed by Stabroek News, the Minister said that government is aware of the importance of mangroves in the protection of Guyana’s sea and river defences. It is with this in mind, he said that government will be planting more mangroves across the country.
“We value mangroves and we will plant more mangroves and where development is taking place where mangroves will be destroyed we will have to have some compensatory measure to ensure that everything is done sustainably…” he emphasised.
Last year, government faced scathing criticism over the granting of permission for the removal of mangroves at the location for the development of the oil and gas shore base.
Following concerns by residents that they had been put at risk of flooding due to the clearance of the natural sea defence, Stabroek News reported that during preparation for the project, over 40 acres of mangroves were destroyed.
Edghill back then had told the media that sheet piles will be installed to protect the property and all others surrounding it from flooding.
Last year, Chairman of Guyana’s Sea Defence Board Gary Beaton had told this newspaper that the company had cleared a large amount of mangroves, which it was not permitted to do, and had so far failed to make provisions to rebuild a river defence.
“They are in breach of the guidelines we offered with our no-objection. They have destroyed the sea defence without building one area, and they were expected to provide a work plan and schedule but that was not done,” Beaton said when asked about the breaches committed by the developer. Since then, Beaton has not said anything else about the removal of the mangroves and the impact on sea defences.
“…The development that is taking place in Guyana is not willy-nilly. This is well-planned. Structured. Structured in a context to bring about real world-class development of Guyana…..And that is not something to be sabotaged. That is something to be encouraged,” Edghill had stated during a press conference held in the boardroom of his Wight Lane, Kingston, George-town office to address the removal of mangroves by TriStar Incorporated.
With Guyana now an oil producing country, Edghill added that there are infrastructural developments that are required to facilitate and properly service what is taking place in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone. In particular, he said that the development on the West Demerara to facilitate the “new wave of development coming to Guyana” would require the removal of mangroves. “At some stage, mangroves will be displaced,” he said. “Mangroves will have to be removed.”
“…The big issue is not flooding because the adequacy of the measures, the hard structures to prevent flooding, are in place. So the big issue is if we should cut mangroves or don’t cut mangroves,” Edghill said back in May.
Major agencies which are a part of the Sea and River Defence Board had offered their no-objection to the application to remove the mangroves. The Sea and River Defence Board comprises the Central Housing & Planning Authority (CH&PA), the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority and the Environmental Protection Agency.
