Newly-appointed chairman of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) Alan Bachan yesterday denied allegations he was interfering with the certificate of environmental clearance (CEC) process for German shipping company Oldendorff Carriers.Oldendorff already has a CEC from the EMA to ship iron ore through T&T from South America and applied for another one to add coal to the trans-shipment.Earlier this week, someone, claiming to be a staff member at the EMA, made allegations online that Bachan was interfering with the CEC process."These allegations are untrue. The CEC process is transparent and the board has nothing to do with it," Bachan said.
He said he was aware of rumblings within the organisation.Bachan admitted he had met with the German company, along with EMA CEO Joth Singh and Trade Minister Vasant Bharath but denied that meeting had anything to do with the CEC process.While Singh is out of the country, acting CEO of the EMA, Gayatri Badri-Maharaj, said the CEC process for Oldendorff was going through a public consultation process. She said the company recently had submitted additional information that the EMA had required for the CEC."Everything is normal. There are no irregularities. Those allegations are completely baseless," she added.
She said the process was still at information stage and no CEC had yet been granted.Last month a group of San Fernando fishermen objected to Oldendorff's plan to expand its trans-shipment operations in the Gulf of Paria.President of the San Fernando Fishing Co-operative Society Salim Gool at the time called for the intervention of Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj, saying the project would affect the fishing grounds off the southern city and create an environmental hazard.Oldendorff first came to T&T in 2012 with a US$45 million investment in a trans-shipment hub to move iron ore from Brazil to China and the Middle East.