– proceeds used to bail out Clico policyholders
THE Ministry of Agriculture has indicated that the Government of Guyana accepted an offer of $600 million by Indian company Vaitarna Holdings Private Inc. (VHPI) to reallocate a concession that had been repossessed.
The ministry, in a press statement sent yesterday, said the sum gained from this offer was used to meet Government’s undertaking to Clico policyholders.
“The United States Company, Simon and Shock International Logging Inc. (SSI), was awarded a State Forest Exploratory Permit (SFEP) in 2007 for 391,853 hectares,” the Ministry said.
However, it noted that due to prolonged non-compliance with the terms of the agreement, the SFEP was suspended in 2009.

“After completing the necessary due diligences, Government of Guyana  approved a request for a 100 percent change in the shareholders of SSI to Vaitarna Holdings Private Inc. (VHPI); a subsidiary of Coffee Day Limited of India.

“This approval in 2010 was also contingent on payment of all outstanding SSI fees (US$254,000), and a commitment to execute a forest inventory, prepare a business plan, and conduct an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for submission to the [Government],” the release said, adding that work is currently being finalised in these three areas.

At the same time, the Timber Sales Agreement (TSA) awarded to Caribbean Resources Limited (CRL) was also terminated and re-possessed by the [Government] in 2010, because of continuous non-compliance with the terms and conditions of the TSA, the Ministry said.

“Government of Guyana accepted an offer of G$600 million by VHPI to re-allocate this re-possessed concession of 345,961 hectares. This re-allocation was done in 2010. The sum of G$600 million was applied to help meet liabilities owed to policyholders of Clico (Guyana), given that CRL is part of the same group of companies as Clico which went into receivership in 2010,” the agriculture ministry stated.

CRL continues to have significant indebtedness to Clico (Guyana), the ministry added.

It also said that operational activities have already commenced in this re-allocated concession.