Court rules in favour of forestry body
Unlicenced lumberyards ordered closed
Stabroek News
March 6, 2004
Two unlicenced East Coast lumberyards targeted by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) in a notice early in January were last week ordered by the courts to close.
The GFC had said in the published notice in January that timber industry operators should not have any dealings with Rohit's Lumber Yard of Industry and Davo's Lumber Yard of Ogle. The lumberyards were cited for environmental concerns and because they contributed to traffic congestion on the East Coast embankment road.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Forests Mohindra Chand, the ruling handed down by the court ordered that the lumberyards stop all activities. He said the GFC had detained all the materials at both lumberyards. In addition, all the wood on these sites had been branded, so if any new wood was delivered the GFC would know.
The deputy commissioner said the court had given these operators several extensions to wind up their operations. Court proceedings were filed last year and last week's ruling favoured the GFC.
When Stabroek News spoke with him a few weeks ago, Chand had said that an inter-agency decision to move against lumberyards operating on the embankment was underway. "We are currently trying to convince the court that these establishments have been operating illegally and it is time to close them down." He had added that the court had given the operators time to respond to the GFC's action.
With regard to licenced lumberyards, which are a dust and noise nuisance to neighbouring residents the deputy commissioner said he had not received any complaints. However, "if we do [receive any complaints] we are in contact with the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] and CH&PA [Central Housing and Planning Authority] and are willing to work in concert with them to ensure these operations do not continue."
At Rohit's Lumber Yard in Industry, Rohit Persaud owner of the lumberyard establishment said he has a piece of land in Good Hope and is hoping he can get approval from La Reconnaisance/ Mon Repos Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) which manages that village and other relevant agencies to set up his business there. He said that location was not as good as the other, but once he was allowed to operate there, he would use the present site as a sort of showroom, from were he would continue to deliver orders to customers.
Officials at the NDC confirmed that they have been in discussion with Persaud about approval for his operation there. However whether he will be given the go-ahead depends on the outcome of the NDC's next statutory meeting and the input of other relevant agencies such as the CHPA.
Davo Pooran, the owner of Davo's Lumber Yard said he had another spot to operate from at Eccles Industrial Site, but it was not profitable. The young businessman said his employees were from the surrounding area and the site at Ogle was convenient for customers. He did not say whether he would continue to use the site for deliveries.
Residents in both neighbourhoods had complained about the noise and dust from the lumberyards, which they said was constant. They also complained about the horse-drawn carts that collect wood at the lumberyards, which sometimes caused traffic disruptions. The cart-men they said, were unruly and left garbage strewn on the parapets.
Director of the Environmental Management Division at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Eliza Florendo said: "Providing we receive official complaints about licenced lumberyards we would take certain action to regulate the operations." The action taken would be directed towards controlling the level of dust and noise coming from these establishments.
With regard to unlicenced lumberyards, she said: "Since 2002 the CH&PA, the GFC and the EPA had decided that they needed to manage issues attached to the railway embankment including those lumberyards." She said a decision had been made that lumberyards on the railway embankment should not be permitted in those areas because of their effect on the general public and traffic congestion among other issues. (Christopher Yaw)