"Guyana Is First" to mobilise support against Beal deal
"Guyana Is First" (GIF) intends to mobilise support from international environmental groups, including Green Peace, as it tries to prevent the proposed terms of the Beal Aerospace Technologies deal from going through. Spokesperson for the civic body, Dr Frank Beckles, said the revelation of the terms of the proposed agreement made it clear that the government secrecy about the deal had to do with it not being in a proud position to make it public. "The people of Guyana are being done a great disservice," Dr Beckles told Stabroek News yesterday. He also said that it was "incredible" that the government was literally giving away the national heritage on the basis of promises. He noted that the stream of payments which it was hoped would accrue to the country was based on hypothetical situations, such as successful launches. The launch fees are graduated, ranging from US$25,000 for less than six launches per year to US$100,000 for more than 19 successful launches. On the basis of at least a dozen successful launches it was expected that the government would get US$775,000 in recurrent revenue from the satellite launch operation. Dr Beckles also feels that the amount of land which Beal will have control over will be much greater than 96,000 acres and a detailed estimation will have to be done. But given Prime Minister Sam Hinds' statement that at the end of the day the decision on signing a deal with Beal rests with government, Dr Beckles said, all Guyanese and GIF could do was to try to use the power of persuasion. Dr Beckles said that if the government took the position Hinds had enunciated, then it would be acting in a dictatorial manner and not in keeping with a democratic culture of listening to what citizens have to say. The GIF spokesman said that in his opinion, the deal was already done and it was only a matter of time before it was consummated. GIF has already consulted its lawyers on challenging the deal, but was advised that it could not go to court as it has no grounds. However, Dr Beckles said that if the deal did go through as is, his group--which has teamed up with a number of other bodies including the local engineering group, tourist operators, and environmentalists as well as Amerindian representatives--will be looking at the environmental impact assessment of the project. And if needs be as a last resort based on this study, the group will be prepared to challenge the deal in court. GIF is still studying the details of the proposed agreement between the government and Beal Aerospace to have a space port in Guyana and will make a detailed statement on that shortly. (GITANJALI SINGH)
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