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Government yesterday insisted that there was nothing secret about a recent granting of forest concessions to an India’s coffee-making company last year.Amidst swirling questions in the media over the transaction, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, yesterday said that Vaitarna Holdings Private Inc. (VHPI),Wildcats #4 Rajon Rondo Blue Basketball Stitched NCAA Jersey, a subsidiary of Coffee Day Limited, through a transparent process, was issued a State Forest Exploratory Permit (SFEP) previously issued to Simon and Shock Intl. (SSI),Manchester United #39 Rashford White Away Soccer Club Jersey, a US company, and a Timber Sales Agreement (TSA) previously issued to Caribbean Resources Limited (CRL).Last week, the Times of India disclosed that VHPI had been granted 1.8M acres of forest land and was interested in shipping logs from Guyana for its furniture business in India.There were immediate questions on transparency and accusations of a possible sweetheart deal.However, yesterday the transaction was heavily defended with the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) making it clear that the VHPI has indicated that it will be building processing facilities here.Already, the company has started activities to upgrade the facilities and living quarters of CRL and through its TSA can harvest logs but will first have to present GFC with a full business plan.“It has been established that in addition to log exports in accordance with National Log Export Policy, the company will engage in added value activities. The GFC has a policy of added value forestry activities and would have rejected any application from the company if it was solely interested in log exports,” the Minister stressed.“This was essentially a reallocation of a suspended SFEP and a repossessed TSA that followed all the necessary requirements. When the original investors of SSI and the previous holders of the TSA now issued to Vaitarna were in default for so many years, there was no condemnation of these companies, especially by the commentators and political activists who are now vocal on this issue.”The press conference was held at the GFC’s headquarters in Kingston. Also there were GFC’s Commissioner, James Singh; Chairman John Caesar and Head of Planning and Development Division, Pradeepa Bholanauth.Processing facilitiesThe Minister wondered whether the questions were raised because the company involved is an Indian one, as there were no objections when the concessions were granted to a US company or to one based in the region. He opined that maybe it was “a typical attempt to distort facts to sensationalise issues for cheap political mileage.”“The real facts are that a logging concession of 345,961 had previously leased to CRL was re-allocated to VHPI. Contrary to what is reported,Nike Broncos #6 Mark Sanchez Blue Alternate Womens Stitched NFL New Elite Jersey, there will be no large scale exportation of logs, since the company has committed to get involved in downstream activities; in addition to logs exports in accordance with the National Forest Policy (NFP).”He explained that VHPI was also given approval to take over a SFEP previously leased to two USA-based investors after it was repossessed for non-compliance with the agreement.“This SFEP of 391,853 hectares cannot be considered “logging rights”. Several steps are involved in the conversion of an SFEP to a TSA,” the official said.It was explained that the company firstly has to do a forest inventory; present a business plan that incorporates the inventory amongst other requirements, and conduct an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA).“In doing the ESIA,Nike Dolphins #94 Mario Williams Green Womens Stitched NFL Limited Salute to Service Jersey, there will be at least two public opportunities for persons to indicate their support/ objection to the granting of logging rights to the company. Also, this process is led by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Environmental Assessment Board (EAB).”When this documentation is provided to the satisfaction of the GFC and its technical team, EPA, EAB, Cabinet Sub-Committee on Natural Resources and Cabinet; only then can approval for logging be given.“So the process is far from over.”According to Persaud, the story in the Times of India that logs will be transported to the furniture plant in Chikmagur in India, is only partially representative of the real facts and Guyana has already been in contact with the company for clarifications.The current National Forest Policy, currently under revision, does not say not to log exports, rather it encourages and promotes value adding,Nike Texans #17 Brock Osweiler White Womens Stitched NFL Elite Jersey, Persaud asserted.Due Diligence“The National Log Export Policy is testament to that – it provides strong disincentives for log exports; this would be revised in 2011 with the aim of providing even stronger disincentives.”Regarding due diligence checks on VHPI to ensure that the company has both the finance and expertise, the Minister said that a comprehensive one (check) was done.“This due diligence has proven that the company has the necessary expertise to undertake the various tasks that are required. It also established that the company has sufficient financial resources, and has a track record of carrying out harvesting and processing operations efficiently.”None interestedPersaud pointed out that even before the concession leased to CRL was repossessed, GFC had indicated to both CRLmanagement and other concession holders that this concession would be repossessed unless a suitable joint venture or complete takeover was affected by some company.“Unfortunately, no company took up the offer. VHPI,Capitals #92 Evgeny Kuznetsov Black 2016 All Star Stitched NHL Jersey, after its takeover of SSI, then approached the Government of Guyana and GFC,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, applying for the concession to be reallocated to it. Note that it was already public knowledge that the concession was repossessed.”Persaud also shrugged off suggestions that the reallocation of the CRL concession as another “Barama deal”.“Barama Company Limited (BCL) or no other company which has been leased a forestry concession in Guyana has ever paid a cent (other than administrative fees) to access the forest resources.”He emphasised that in the case of the Indian company, it paid US $3M to access a concession which is less than 25% of BCL’s leased concession.“BCL had consecutive five-year tax holidays and other concessions – none of which VHPI enjoys. BCL pays about $800,000 as acreage fees for access to 1.6 M hectares; VHPI has to pay $81.00 per hectare or G$28,022,841 for access to 345,Blackhawks #72 Artemi Panarin Black Stitched NHL Jersey,961 hectares. This means that if VHPI had BCL’s acreage, they would have paid in excess of $120,000,000 to the GFC.”“These are only some of the examples which serve to dispute the statement of VHPI being another BCL.”QuestionsQuestioned whether any advertising was done to allow interested parties a chance, both Singh and the Minister stressed that newspaper notices have been used extensively to issue invitations.They again pointed out that it was public knowledge that the concessions of SSI and CRL were to be repossessed.Regarding the $600M, it was disclosed that GFC and government arrived at the figure through negotiations and cognizance of the fact that CRL was a subsidiary of CLICO, an insurance company which went belly up a few years ago.“This is the first time that a company, in addition to paying the normal fees, would have been demanded to pay money as part of the application process,” the Minister disclosed.VHPI paid over $600M (US$3M) which was used to pay off CLICO policy holders in Guyana.It was also disclosed that several concessions granted to BCL have been placed on hold,Wholesale Los Angeles Lakers Jerseys, including tax breaks for fuel imports. BCL’s concessions are currently being reviewed by government.Asked how long it may take before the Indian company can start harvesting should the greenlight be given, the Minister disclosed between two to three years.