Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon, has said the scrap metal trade was given another respite, a partial opening, but maintained that the administration will continue its action against “criminal and unscrupulous participants” in the trade. “There is no evidence that the theft of metal and metal containing assets belonging to the state or private entities has been arrested,” he said at his weekly Cabinet debriefing yesterday.
The HPS noted that, on the contrary, reports suggest otherwise, and added that illegal exports continue in the face of the ban imposed by the administration.
The industry has been a troubled one for years now, and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, in April, had announced that the government was once again slapping a ban on the scrap metal trade. There was a suspension on all licensing and dealings in scrap metal of ferrous and non- ferrous materials after the reprimand on vandalism of metals went unheeded. The ban brought both local and international trade in scrap metal to a halt.
Prime Minister Hinds had previously instituted a ban effective January 1, 2007, following similar trends in illegal activities.
Subsequently the Old Metal Dealers’ Act was amended, granting government the authority over the scrap metal trade, to impose fines and criminal charges when necessary.
The Prime Minister’s actions followed several complaints about metal theft at various, private and state properties and commercial building sites, including the removal of installations from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) site at the Lama Conservancy, the pumping facility of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), and the rails around church yards and accessible burial grounds.

Government’s concerns about the illegality of scrap metal operations in Guyana were echoed Tuesday by President Bharrat Jagdeo when he met a number of dealers to decide on the regulations that will be needed for resumption of the trade. The meeting at the Office of the President was attended by Minister of Tourism Industry and Commerce Manniram Prashad, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Mr. Komal Ramnauth, and Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Company Mr. Yog Mahadeo.
The HPS noted that coming out of that meeting were a number of agreements and conclusions.
During that meeting, it was disclosed that there are at present 75 containers on the wharf which are subject to inspections by the Office of the Prime Minister.
Luncheon stated that it was agreed that the containers waiting to be exported will be allowed to.
The exports of materials accumulated in yards will be permitted on a weekly basis after full inspection from relevant parties such as the GT&T, the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) and Guyana Power and Light.
This conclusion, Luncheon, said was a “most important” consensus coming out of the meeting.
“The packing or the loading of the containers was not being followed scrupulously and indeed represented the need for a more significant intervention to ensure that criminals and the unscrupulously dealers do not benefit from the pillage of others’ assets,” he said.
The HPS said an inter-agency team, including representatives from the private sector – all of whom have been “bedeviled” by the theft of their assets, will be responsible for supervising the packing of the containers.
He said the team would “inspect and certify” that the containers have been loaded with scrap metal that is not a consequence of criminal activity.
“It was established clearly at that meeting that the industry has to do much more to police itself,” Luncheon posited.
Additionally, the Ministry of Tourism Industry and Commerce has been tasked with providing details of the different phases under which the new scrap metal trade rules and regulations will be instituted.
The resurgence of widespread pillaging of the metals, reportedly, is a response to a gradual global return to higher levels of industrial production in the United States and Asia. United States and Asia are reportedly the largest markets for scrap exported from Guyana, following a period of decline resulting from the global economic crisis.
Recycled metals are known to be in high demand in countries that pursue significant levels of industrial production, the recycling option being significantly cheaper that the acquisition of new metals. While the scrap industry acquires its product mostly from disused and derelict vehicles, abandoned factories and other defunct metal-based structures, the trade also thrives on the illegal acquisition of metals resulting from the theft and destruction of valuable property.
The stakeholders in the trade comprise licensed dealers and a collection of small and not so small groups and individuals, as well as the Guyana Scrap Metal Dealers Association (GSMDA).