Ramps Logistics will today receive a formal response from the Local Content Secretariat (LCS) about why it failed to secure certification, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat yesterday said.
“Yes we will…tomorrow,” Bharrat told Stabroek News when asked if Ramps will be given formal notification.
Bharrat’s statement comes after silence by the LCS to public enquiries about the Ramps application. The LCS also did not respond to Ramps when it requested reasons for the denial of the certificate.
Sources told this newspaper that Ramps’ denial of certification by the Secretariat has to do with the source of its income and the $210M the company said that it sold 51% of its ownership for, in addition to the citizenship status of the partner who bought it, Deepak Lall.
Ramps’ management up to yesterday said that it had not yet received word, “So far we have not received any updates from the Secretariat. Still unable to ascertain why the certification is being withheld,” a company official said when contacted.
The company, which has a 49% Trinidadian ownership, is contending that it has satisfied all the requirements outlined in the Local Content Act to be considered a “local company” and should therefore qualify for access to the register. Ramps, which was a 100% Trinidadian-owned entity just a few months ago, divested 51% of its shares to Lall – a Trinidadian businessman of Guyanese heritage.
It says that it currently employs 398 Guyanese.
Ramps’ Logistics Director, Samantha Cole on Thursday said that they approached the LCS in April to be added to the register of local companies to provide services to the oil and gas sector but on June 8, it received an automated message informing that the application had been denied.
The email said “Your application to the Local Content Register has been refused by the Minister. You have been denied access to Local Content Register.”
Cole says that the denial now threatens the livelihood of a number of Ramps’ employees.
The Local Content Secretariat outlines documentation to be submitted by a Guyanese national or Guyanese company registering with the Secretariat in support of their application.
According to the agency’s mandate, it “aims to ensure the prioritisation of Guyanese nationals and Guyanese companies in the procurement of goods and services for the enhancement of the value chain of the petroleum sector and to enable local capacity development.”
Guyana’s Local Content legislation states that the Secretariat must publish its register.
“The Secretariat shall cause the Local Content Registers to be published on the website of the ministry responsible for petroleum or any other media of wide circulation,” the law states.
It is unclear if any company has yet received certification as to date no company has been listed on the site.
Companies which were “supplying goods or providing services to the petroleum sector”, prior to the enactment of the Local Content law have up to the end of June 2022 to submit their documents and be issued with their certification.
The certificate lasts for only one year.
On its website, https://lcregister.petroleum.gov.gy/, the agency makes clear that failure to provide the necessary documents would delay the certification registration process.
For Business Partnerships the company must supply copies of the Partnership Business Registration Certificate, Partnership Business TIN Certificate, Partnership Business NIS Registration Certificate, Partnering Business/Company individual TIN Certificate, Partnering Business/Company individual NIS Registration Certificate, and TIN Certificate of the owners/directors of the individual businesses/companies in the partnership.
The National Identification Card of the owners/directors of the individual businesses/companies in the partnership also has to be supplied.
Public companies have to also provide a Certificate of Incorporation, Articles of Incorporation, TIN Certificate of the Directors of the Company and Beneficial Owners (Shareholders, if different from Directors), a Certified copy of the Beneficial Ownership Declaration or Instrument of Allocation of Shares from the Commercial Registry.
Guyanese nationals or Guyanese companies registering with the Secretariat are required to submit a listing of their employees containing the following information: Employee Code, First Name, Surname, Date of Birth, Nationality, Staff Level (Executive/Management or Non-Management), Job Position/Job Title, Employment Status (Full- time or part-time), National ID#, NIS # and TIN.
The Articles of Incorporation should be accompanied by the Notice(s) of Director and corresponding consent to act as Director, Notice(s) of change of Director with accompanying consent and resolution (if applicable), Notice of Secretary and corresponding consent to act as Secretary, Notice of Registered Office, Declaration of Compliance, and any other associated documentation.
The private sector here has pushed for local content legislation and following the passage of the Act, the business community expressed concerns that foreign companies would capitalize on the loopholes in the criteria which define a local company. In addition, it was pointed out that foreign companies coming here would register at the Deeds Registry and thereafter be referred to as being 100% Guyanese.
There were also concerns raised by the CARICOM Private Sector Organisation that the law could be in breach of the CARICOM-founding Treaty of Chaguaramas.
Lall, a Trinidad-born businessman, is the Managing Director of QUALITECH – one of the largest mechanical engineering companies in the Caribbean. The company was started in 1995 and has been a client of Ramps Logistics Trinidad for a number of years. Lall is also a business partner with Rampersad in the hotel industry.
According to the documents submitted to the Local Content Secretariat, Lall’s father Deo Nanda and grandfather Deonarine were both born in Guyana. They later moved away to the United Kingdom and subsequently Trinidad where QUALITECH was started.
Based on Guyana’s Citizenship Act, Lall is eligible for Guyanese citizenship since one of his parents is Guyanese by birth. Lall acquired his first Guyanese passport in 2021 before purchasing his stake in Ramps Logistics.
With a workforce of about 400 and a large chunk of the oil and gas logistics work falling in its lap, Ramps was valued at US$1,960,780. Lall paid US$1 million ($210 million) for his 51% stake in the company.
Rampersad said that Lall was approached because of similar values. He noted that QUALITECH is particularly experienced in the field of gas processing and that Lall has intentions to establish here in Guyana once the gas-to-shore project comes on board. Additionally, Rampersad said that teaming up with Lall also brings experienced Guyanese from the diaspora back to invest here.
When asked about whether Ramps investigated the source of Lall’s US$1m investment, Rampersad replied in the affirmative explaining that it was funded by QUALITECH.
