Black Immigrant Daily News

Tobago

Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association vice president Carol-Ann Birchwood-James.

TOBAGO Hotel and Tourism Association vice-president Carol-Ann Birchwood-James is hoping to see an increase in Tobago’s allocation in the upcoming national budget.

During the Spotlight on the Economy at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port of Spain, on Friday, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced September 26 as Budget Day.

Birchwood-James told Newsday, “I would like to see an increase in Tobago’s allocation from the four per cent that they normally give us to at least give us a five per cent, because there are a lot of things that the assembly has to do.”

She said Tobago needs money to market its tourism sector effectively .

“We now have a new hotel (Comfort Inn & Suites) and another one on the way, the Marriott. So we have to ramp up our marketing of our tourism product and therefore we need money for that, perhaps a few million dollars more to go for our tourism marketing.”

Tobago got an allocation of $2.357 billion in the 2021-2022 budget.

In June, the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) ssked for an allocation of $3.97 billion from central government to manage the island’s affairs for fiscal 2022-2023.

Chief Secretary Farley Augustine said the request was predicated on an anticipated national budget of $54.7 billion.

He said he hoped the figure would reflect 6.9 per cent of the national budget, in keeping with the upper end of the Dispute Resolution Committee’s recommendation.

On Friday, the Tobago Business Chamber proposed that the government expand the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhance Programme (CEPEP) and Unemployment Relief Programmes (URP) to create what it called “dedicated agro-industry sections” which can produce “structured government farm workers.”

In a statement on WhatsApp, the chamber’s chairman Martin George said the government should put the CEPEP and URP make-work programmes to greater use.

“We’d like to see this as part of an agrarian awakening for Tobago and for Trinidad also. So let’s create a CEPEP agro division and URP agri sector,” he said.

“Let’s utilise our fertile lands, our rich soil and harness the talents of our people. Let’s use the science and technology to create super-productive farms through Trinidad and Tobago.”

George said the salaries of the workers could also be increased, but in a manner linked to increased productivity and agricultural output.

The chamber, he said, also wants to see Tobago “weaned off the financial umbilical cord (sic) by which they are tied to central government.

“This will require a medium- to long-term plan, but we need to make a start.”

George repeated the chamber’s call for the “immediate and unconditional” repeal of the Foreign Investment Act.

But he said while the chamber encourages foreign investment, it must be done in a structured way.

George said the government should mandate that anyone investing in Tobago must partner – at least up to ten per cent – with a local Tobago-based business.

“That way you earn and get the foreign exchange by the direct foreign investment and you also get that transfer of knowledge where our Tobago-based businesses get the opportunity to learn hands-on from bigger, more experienced business people.”

George also reiterated the chamber’s call to make Tobago a VAT-free zone.

“This will lead to a massive influx of foreign exchange and investment and business in Tobago.”

He predicted the island will also become the investment capital of the Caribbean in much the same way Florida is the retirement state of the US.

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

Guyana is expected to earn a whopping US$1.1 billion from its total share of profit oil for 2022, with the Finance Ministry mid-year report revealing that the country has already earned US$307 million in profit oil revenue for the first half of the year.

The mid-year report, which was released over the weekend, explains that during the first half of 2022, there were five lifts of profit oil from the Liza Destiny and Unity Floating Production and Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessels.

Apart from the US$307 million that Guyana earned from its share of profit oil, the country also received US$37.1 million in royalties in the first half. Considering the over US$100 price per barrel of Brent crude, Guyana’s earnings are expected to exceed US$1 billion by this year end.

“Government anticipates 13 lifts of profit oil for 2022, and subject to the evolution of world market oil prices, now projects US$1.1 billion from the sale of the country’s share of profit oil, and US$147.7 million in royalties,” the mid-year report states.

When it comes to the money in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF), the report explained that the cumulative balance on the NRF, inclusive of interest income, was US$753.3 million at the end of the first half. This is after the Government would have withdrawn US$200 million in May, to fund its national development projects.

Meanwhile, the report explained that the oil and gas subsector is estimated to have expanded by 73.5 per cent, when compared with the first half of 2021. In the first half of the year, 34.6 million barrels of oil were produced, compared with 20.2 million barrels during the same period last year.

“Given the outturn in the first half of the year, total production is expected to reach 93.6 million barrels by year end, and with elevated prices supporting the sector, annual growth for 2022 is now targeted at 113 per cent,” the report states.

Another component of the mid-year report is trade. According to the report, merchandise trade balance improved in the first half of 2021 by US$1.8 million, growing to US$2.6 million at the end of June.

“This substantial increase is a reflection of growth in export earnings in the first half of 2022. Notably, total export earnings more than doubled over the review period, growing by US$2330.2 million to US$4352.3 million, and outweighed the 41.2 per cent growth in import payments. This is largely attributed to a robust performance from the oil and gas sector, as well as a marginal increase in non-oil exports.”

“Export earnings from crude oil amounted to US$3612.3 million at the end of the first half of the year, compared with US$1296.6 million over the same period last year. This is the result of an increase in the average export price of oil, combined with the introduction of the Liza Unity FPSO to local oil production,” the report also states.

The oil rich Stabroek Block, which is producing the oil, is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). Exxon, through subsidiary EEPGL, is the operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.

So far, Exxon’s total investments in Guyana total GY$1.3 trillion on its own and over GY$3 trillion with its partners. Additionally, the joint ventures exploration and production plans up to 2025 will likely increase their investments to more than GY$6 trillion.

ExxonMobil has said it anticipates at least six projects offshore Guyana will be online by 2027, with production having already started in the second phase, with the Liza Unity FPSO vessel in operation.

The third project –the Payara Development – will meanwhile target an estimated resource base of about 600 million oil-equivalent barrels, and was at one point considered to be the largest single planned investment in the history of Guyana.

Meanwhile, the Yellowtail development, which will be oil giant ExxonMobil’s fourth development in Guyana’s waters, will turn out to be the single largest development so far in terms of barrels per day of oil, with a mammoth 250,000 bpd targeted.

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

Oral arguments in BK Quarries Incorporated’s challenge to Hadi’s World – a company owned by prominent businessman Nazar “Shell” Mohamed – being granted four quarrying licences, have been set for September 28 before Demerara High Court Judge Gino Persaud.

BK Quarries is contesting a decision by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to grant the quarrying licences to the company, which, in addition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are listed as the respondents in its judicial review application filed in June.

In initial filings, BK Quarries had also named GGMC’s Commissioner Newell Dennison as a respondent.

However, the Commissioner of GGMC applied to be removed as a party to the proceedings.Justice Persaud granted the application on the ground that there was “no cause of action disclosed against him”.

As such, he has been deleted from the proceedings and BK was ordered to pay him $250,000 in costs on or before September 20.

Further, BK Quarries had filed an application for the GGMC to disclose several documents, including documents submitted to it by Hadi’s World in its quarry licence applications.

That application, was, however, denied by Justice Persaud who held that “[BK Quarries] has not demonstrated any exceptional circumstances to justify the disclosures sought”.

According to the Judge, “the application for disclosure seems to be an attempt to obtain as much information as possible to unpick GGMC’s decision and seems to be a fishing expedition”.

“[BK Quarries] has come to court to challenge GGMC and is required to prove its case based on the information in its possession not on what it hopes to acquire through an application for disclosure within a Fixed Date Application,” said the Judge in his ruling. With the dismissal of the application, BK Quarries has to pay an additional $150,000 in costs to GGMC.

In its application for judicial review, BK Quarries through its lawyer Siand Dhurjon, complained that despite raising several objections, the GGMC and EPA went ahead with the granting of the licences to Hadi’s World which has no expertise in the quarrying industry.

Among other things, the company is seeking an injunction to prevent Hadi’s World from occupying or taking any steps to develop 16,500 acres of land recently awarded by the GGMC as four quarrying licences.

Dhurjon said that BK Quarries applied for a quarrying licence for an area in Iteballi, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) in August 2018 and is still awaiting a response regarding its application.

Hadi’s World, BK Quarries said, only applied for its quarrying licence in December 2020.BK Quarries contends that the EPA illegally waived the requirement for Hadi’s World to be subjected to performing an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of four quarrying operations for the reason that the operations “would not significantly impact the environment”.

“This decision to award a company which does not own even a single crusher, 16,502 acres of land for quarrying was made although BK Quarries had applied for a quarry licence since August 16, 2018, for a portion of the same area. BK Quarries Inc. was issued a prospecting licence for the said portion in 2014, a licence which remains in force up to today,” BK Quarries said.

BK Quarries’ legal documents outline that the Commissioner of GGMC had written to its owner, Brian Tiwarie, in December 2019 stating that his application for the quarry licence at Iteballi was being processed. It said it was even informed by GGMC that the area the company had applied for was “a considerable expanse of land” and that it would be required to reduce the acreage being sought.

The said acreage was reduced by 50 per cent — from 9364 acres to 4680 acres, Dhurjon said, adding that on January 20, 2021, GGMC informed his client that all quarry licences extant and otherwise are to be reviewed by the GGMC’s Board of Directors.

According to counsel, on February 6, 2021, as published in the Official Gazette, BK Quarries observed that GGMC had published a notice of intention to grant four quarry licences to Hadi’s World of Lot 29 Lombard Street, Georgetown, over the areas which were covered by its [BK Quarries] prospective licences and 2018 quarry licence application.

The company said that it immediately protested the GGMC’s decision as unfair, unlawful, and unacceptable, and through its lawyers, sent several letters to the GGMC that went unanswered. The lawyer submitted that on February 18, 2021, several of GGMC’s Board members pointed out that the applications by Hadi’s World, which were still before the Board for consideration, had already been approved unilaterally by Dennison.

Dhurjon contended that it baffles the mind that the EPA would waive the requirement for an EIA for the issuance of four contiguous quarry licences that cover a stunning 16,502 acres. “This is an area that is five times the size of the capital city of Georgetown and almost four times the 4500 acres that were approved for BK Quarries Inc in the same place.”

According to Dhurjon, on June 15, 2021, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat hosted a ceremony for the signing of the four quarry licences along with related EPA permits which were personally handed over by the Minister to Mohamed.

As such, BK Quarries complained that it did not benefit from equality of treatment under the law by State agencies in breach of the Constitution since the GGMC had “a serious” concern that it “could not actually use and occupy some 9,000 acres for quarrying operations whereas the GGMC has licensed Hadi’s World Inc to use over 16,500 acres for quarrying operations.”

“This is in spite of the fact that Hadi’s World told the Government entities that its quarrying operations would only utilise less than 1000 acres combined across the four licenses covering the 16,500 acres of lands given to them for quarrying operations,” the lawyer argued.

Dhurjon also alleged that the Board of the GGMC was biased in its decision.

Considering this, Dhurjon is asking the court to grant an order of mandamus to compel the GGMC to take all steps necessary to see to the 2018 application by BK Quarries for a quarry licence over the area of 9364 acres designated by the GGMC.

NewsAmericasNow.com