Guyana Times Daily

Page 5

guyanatimesgy.com

saturDAY, October 25, 2014

5

Pinnacle was incorporated to enter the green business sector in Guyana (Part 1) Dear Editor, Pinnacle Green Resources (Guyana) Inc notes the letter written by Assistant Professor Janette Bulkan, University of British Columbia, Canada, regarding our proposed investments in Guyana. We wish to state that the company is quite happy to release information regarding itself and its activities in Guyana (and indeed around the world) to anyone who requests that information, particularly concerned Guyanese. The letter writer has provided us with the opportunity to highlight the areas of concerns raised, and while we would have been equally pleased to provide this information in response to a polite request, we seek your indulgence in allowing us to publicly provide some information regarding our company, its antecedents, and our proposed investments in Guyana.

Pinnacle

Pinnacle Green Resources (Guyana) Inc is 100 per cent owned by Pinnacle Green Resources Pte Ltd (Singapore). Pinnacle is a specifically incorporated Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), incorporated in 2013 to enter into the GREEN business sector in Guyana. Pinnacle Green Resources Pte Ltd (Singapore) is 100 per cent owned by Pinnacle Commodities (Asia) Limited, Hong Kong. This Special

Purpose Vehicle was specifically incorporated in 2012 to enter into GREEN businesses around the world. Pinnacle Commodities (Asia) Limited, Hong Kong was incorporated in 2007 and has the following shareholders, each having one-third equity contribution: Kuldip Kumar Gupta, Manish Gupta and Rajnish Gupta. These three shareholders are a part of the Beekay Group, which is owned by the larger Gupta family. The Beekay Group is a highly diversified group, having operations in steel, beverages, construction, energy, chemicals, etc, with global reach. We have information available, which describes some of the Beekay Group’s activities and partnerships, if you feel this is warranted. While members of the public and some academics do resort to Internet searches to do financial research and research into companies, we wish to advise the public that this is not the best forum to do so, as there are many companies with similar names and many highly successful and respectable companies that do not even have a website. There are well-known financial enquiry services that can be used to research companies; resorting to casting aspersions on companies simply because of an imperfect or mis-informed search is not fair nor is it in the best interests of any nation.

Some of the websites associated with the Beekay Group are: www.bsbkltd. com, www.mbl.in, www. beekaycorp.com and www. biltech.co.in. In addition to the shareholders of the company, Dr Rajneesh Mehra is one of the principal officers and drivers behind Pinnacle Green Resources (Guyana) Inc. Dr Mehra brings a world-recognised reputation in converting waste to energy. He was the Managing Director and CEO of A2Z Infrastructure (P) Limited, focused on waste management. He successfully grew A2Z into India’s largest and the world’s third largest waste management company in terms of volume of waste managed and volume of people served, in the process, becoming a household name in India and around the world in waste management and waste to energy. Dr Mehra left A2Z to pursue opportunities of his own, and developed companies in biomass-based power generation, sustainable mechanised corporate farming, and associated waste management. His companies are Purab Infrastructure Projects Limited (conversion of waste biomass to energy and energy plantation cultivation); Purab Urja (P) Limited (conversion of waste biomass to energy and energy plantation cultivation); and First Agrobiz (P) Limited, which is focused on the farming of greater than 2000 acres of

energy biomass plantation. We can assure the public that simply because an Internet search does not yield companies with the name Pinnacle that are obviously involved in the areas of investment we have proposed in Guyana, that does not mean we do not have the experience, the personnel, the demonstrated capacity and the financing to back our investments. We encourage real, valid and approved searches to be done on the names of the companies we have provided.

Soil types

This plant (in question) grows well in soil which is slightly acidic; pHs as low as 4.8 have been shown to be suitable for prolific growth, although the plant is often found naturalised in environments where pH is around 5.2 or slightly greater. To suggest that the plant requires alkaline soils to grow to an economic size is simply not correct. To remind the public, alkaline pH values are above a pH of 7. A direct quotation from a compilation of scientific reports on forage legumes (H M Shelton and J L Brewbaker, Leucaena leucocephala – The Most Widely Used Forage Tree Legume, in Forage Tree Legumes in Tropical Agriculture, eds R G Gutteridge and H M Shelton, Tropical Grassland Society of Australia Inc, 1998, Chapter 2, ISBN

Sharma Solomon should resign Dear Editor, Two years ago, the One Mile Primary School at Wismar was burnt down by arsonists during the mayhem protesting Government’s decision to withdraw the electricity subsidy for Lindeners. I vividly recall calls from the opportunist Mark Benschop appealing to Guyanese in New York to help in the rebuilding by sending cash and other donations to the Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) Chairman, Sharma Solomon. In a telephone interview with Benschop, the Regional Chairman made it clear that One Mile Primary School will be rebuilt solely by the people of Linden. He did not want the Government to play any part in the rebuilding. As such, an estimated $17 million was raised, mostly from generous Guyanese living in the diaspora and from supporters of the Opposition at home. Two years have gone by and that money is yet to be accounted for. Every effort made to get Solomon to account for that money has been coming up against a brick wall. In a report published in <<Guyana Times>> on August 24, a similar question was asked:

Where’s the money? That was two months ago. I travelled to Linden on that very day, December 12, 2013, and took photographs of the burnt-out remains of One Mile Primary School. The photographic evidence which I shared then showed very limited work, all shoddy and incomplete, had been started on the ground level, but no work was evident on the top floor as was reported. Initially, $60 million was allocated in the 2013 Education Budget for the construction of an additional wing to the building that Solomon and the self-help committee were supposed to have built from donations received, to make allowance for additional students, so as to avoid overcrowding. Consultations were held between the Ministry and the Regional Chairman, and it appeared evident that children were being inconvenienced and their education compromised by the ongoing delays to get the project started. By then, engineers from the Ministry of Education declared the existing remains to be unsafe to build on, due to structural damage caused by intense heat from the fire. When Government

realised that Solomon and the self-help committee were incapable of rebuilding the school in a timely manner, they refused to turn over the $60 million and instead took a decision to build a brand new modern school with the capacity to hold 1000 children. The Regional Chairman wisely gave his approval and consent, and the rebuilding project was finally launched last February by Education Minister Priya Manickchand, at a cost of $170 million. The new building will include 29 classrooms, capable of housing 1000 students, sick bay, facilities for disabled, information communication laboratory, administrative office and sanitary block among others. So there is absolutely no need for additional monies to be spent by the so-called “rebuilt project” or anyone else to “modernise” a school that will have all the modern facilities and amenities. This explanation is just a sham to stall the demands for accountability of the estimated $17 million in cash that was received as donations, money that must be accounted for by the Region 10 Chairman.

During the sod-turning ceremony in February, I tried to interview Sharma Solomon to get some answers. When I introduced myself, he became arrogant and unwilling to speak to me, saying, “I know who you are.” I specifically asked how much money was received in donations from the diaspora in New York, and he told me none – I recorded his comment. The only information he volunteered was that most of the contributions came from local supporters and businesses in the form of materials such as concrete blocks, cement and sand. He also denied having knowledge of the amount of money collected and access to that money, and said that a committee is tasked to audit the accounts and the findings will be published shortly. When asked how soon, he said within two weeks. That was on February 12, over eight months ago. Solomon needs to come clean with the people of Linden and the entire nation, and especially those Guyanese living in New York who willingly gave part of their hard-earned money to the idea of rebuilding a school set ablaze.

0-9585677-1-9) claims: “It [<<Leucaena leucocephala>>] grows on a wide variety of soil types including mildly acid soils (pH > 5.2).” Even a cursory search on a non-scientific search engine such as “Google” would ascertain, due to the wide number of studies that have been conducted on this species, that an alkaline soil is not required. The soil in the area of the Pomeroon where we have been investigating in conjunction with the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission has an upper layer of thin organic matter followed by a 20-inch layer of peat and acid sulphate. The pH in this area is generally around 4 (information supplied by NAREI). Given our experience in growing energy plantations, we have already ascertained that we shall need to bring this pH value up to around 4.8, but we know exactly how to accomplish this with the application of lime. In addition, in our areal and on-foot surveys of this proposed land for cultivation, we encountered prolific stands of coconut growing. Coconuts are well-known to grow in soils similar in pH to those supporting Leucaena, and these trees are growing prolifically even without the benefit of lime addition. Furthermore, the addition of lime has been taken into consideration in our business plan. We are perplexed at why anyone would

think that we wish to “land grab” land that clearly has languished undeveloped for decades, and why, if the land is so unsuitable for cultivation, would we want to “grab” it in the first instance. We wish to inform the public that our MoU with Go-Invest stipulates standard lease rates in Guyana. We can also assure you that we have not been successful as a company by leasing land which is not useful to us and waiting for someone to come along and somehow compensate us for leasing land that has not been leased for many decades, if ever. Primary agriculture in countries such as Guyana is risky business; it requires large injections of capital and one can still face many unknown challenges – related to fertiliser price fluctuations, climate changes, pests, etc. And also, whether or not one can grow the crops one wishes to, with the yields that one would prefer. Incidentally, this is exactly the same problems faced by your current sugar and rice industries, and Guyanese seem to have been able to grow sugar and rice for many decades. This business is not without risks, but it is not without reward, either.

This evasive strategy by the Regional Chairman to prevent disclosure of the total amount received in donation after two long years appears fishy to me. The question must be asked: How could a man who solicited and received millions in cash donations that were never used and reportedly cannot be accounted for even after two long years, a public figure who appears to have violated the public’s trust, still have the cojones to remain in a leadership position in Linden? Solomon should resign in disgrace with immediate effect. He is an embarrassment to the position he holds. Like APNU, the Government of Guyana should distance themselves from Solomon, and refuse to rec-

ognise his status in the community until he accounts for this money. A full and complete investigation is now needed to determine exactly how much money was received by Solomon, APNU Parliamentarian Vanessa Kissoon, and Mark Benschop of the Benschop Foundation, if only to keep them honest and lift the veil of suspicion that hangs over them. Interestingly, these are the same people who accuse the Government of corruption and whose common goal is to replace the current administration in office by hook or by crook. God help Guyana if that ever happens!

Yours sincerely, Manu Bansal, Executive Director Pinnacle Green Resources (Guyana) Inc

Sincerely, Harry Gill


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