Workers may get land for timber operations after Barama’s exit

With hundreds of workers jobless after Malaysian-owned Barama Company Limited pulled the plug on its forestry operations locally, Government is considering giving the lands to the now jobless persons to commence their independent operations.
Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman submitted a number of proposals to Cabinet on alternative use of some 1.6 million hectares of forest lands, as well as on the welfare of the workers who are affected as a result of Barama’s closure.
State Minister Joseph Harmon, during a post-Cabinet press briefing on Thursday, explained that a Cabinet sub-committee was established to review the options and make recommendations on their feasibility before December.
Harmon also disclosed that international and local bodies have already expressions of interest in utilising the forest lands.
“We are looking at medium-scale and small-scale work in the area. We are exploring the possibility of those employees who were in the sector, forming themselves into cooperatives to be able to use work in those areas…there are also already expressions of interest from several foreign companies and local companies, but we first have to look at our own employees, our own Guyanese people in that regard,” he stated.
The Cabinet sub-committee tasked with reviewing these options comprises the Natural Resources Minister, Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan, Business Minister Dominic Gaskin, Indigenous People’s Affairs Minister Sydney Allicock and Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence.
Barama is currently in the process of retrenchment and some 500 workers stand to be affected.
In October, the Company announced that it would not be seeking a renewal of its 25-year-old forest concession agreement with Government and would be scaling back its operations.
Reports indicate that the Company is still deciding whether it is profitable to continue its sawmilling and veneering and plywood manufacturing here.
According to reports, Government’s slothfulness in reviewing the renewal of the contract was the main reason behind Barama’s decision to leave the market.
Quoted sources explained that during the period of the prolonged negotiations, the global economic situation took a drastic turn for the worse. The sources said had the Government presented a contract earlier, the Company would have most likely still be conducting operations.
Last year, the Natural Resources Ministry undertook to review the renewal of the contract with Barama at its behest; however, the Company was presented with a draft agreement until late 2016.
A Task Force was established to examine the Company’s request for a continuation of its contract, given the “rapacious activities” of some foreign companies operating in the forests of Guyana.
When the draft agreement was finally presented to Barama for feedback, the Company had already decided to pull the plug on its operations. The source quoted in the media also indicated that the draft contract was “rough”, and did not encourage the Company to stay in the market.
Barama has invested in excess of US$43 billion in its local operations since its establishment in 1991 and was one of the country’s largest employers. (Devina Samaroo)