…company’s licence was not renewed

ALTHOUGH Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL) has indicated to the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) that it is winding up its operations, it is yet to inform the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC).On Wednesday, GFC Chairperson Jocelyn Dow told the Guyana Chronicle that DTL has not indicated its intention to close its logging operations here, nor has it applied to transfer its shares to another foreign company.
Dow, however, indicated that the logging company which operates at Mabura Hill in Region 10 had applied for an extension of its 25-year-old lease which has since expired, but permission was not granted.
In response, DTL secured an injunction from the High Court in July preventing GFC from closing down its operations. The company, which was once named Demerara Woods Limited, was privatised in 1991 and renamed Demerara Timbers Limited and was issued with a 25-year-old lease agreement called Timbers Sales Agreement (TSA). However, in recent years DTL has been unable to fulfil many of the requirements under the TSA, particularly with regard to production and the payment of royalties. “DTL owes the commission millions in royalties and acreage fees and up to yesterday [Tuesday] not a cent has been paid,” Dow told this newspaper. The company reportedly owes the Commission more than $26M in royalties and acreage fees.
The chairperson of the Forestry Commission said that it was unreasonable for the logging company to believe that its 25-year-lease should be automatically extended when it has failed to fulfil all of the criteria in the investment agreement.
“They have their business to do and we have our business to do,” she posited. If the company closes its operations without fully paying the commission, Dow said the commission will explore a number of options to recover the outstanding revenue.
“The commission could explore taking DTL to the commercial court to recover monies outstanding to them and it is an option the commission would explore if the company is indeed closing down,” she posited.
However, she made it clear that the commission has not been unreasonable to any operator in the forestry sector, but said it is the duty of the commission to ensure that these companies abide by their investment agreements.
When the Guyana Chronicle visited the DTL Head Office in Kingston, Georgetown, the Sales Manager Robert Perry, who was the only manager present at the time of the visit, declined to speak to this newspaper. However, when he was previously contacted, Perry denied that the logging company was closing down.
However, DTL on Tuesday informed GAWU that it would be closing its operations at Mabura Hill and that a number of workers would become redundant. Close to 100 workers are on the list that was issued to GAWU following the announcement.
Oscar Hector, a contractor who has been working with DTL for more than 25 years, told the Chronicle that the logging company has already terminated the contracts of approximately five contractors, including himself, as it begins to scale down operations at Mabura Hill.
They were served with the letters of termination approximately two weeks ago. “No reason was given in the letter. They just said that our contracts will be terminated with effect from November 1.”
Hector has provided the company with a number of services, including the supply of labour, but his primary contract focused on the “Green Chain” which involves the measuring and packing of logs. The other contractors did felling for the company. Felling is the process of downing or cutting individual trees, an element of the task of logging.
Hector explained too that approximately two months ago, the Management of DTL, without any explanation or due notice, closed its main sawmill.
Last December, the Ministry of Social Protection, Department of Labour, had issued the company with a stern warning after it was discovered that some workers were forced to operate a defective machine within the sawmill.
“They were experiencing a problem with a machine in the sawmill but they were able to repair it, so that could not have resulted in shut- down,” Hector opined.
Following the closure of the sawmill, DTL reportedly hired another contractor who now operates a portable mill.
Recently in the local newspapers, DTL has been advertising a clearance sale with wooden materials being sold at extremely low prices.