EPA exempts Royal Builders port project at Hyde Park from impact study
The EPA says the Timehri project will not greatly harm the environment, but it stresses that its decision is no sign the project is approved.
The Environmental Protection Agency has decided that a planned port facility and aggregate storage site at Hyde Park, Timehri, does not need a full Environmental Impact Assessment. The company behind it is Royal Builders Inc.
In a notice published on 19 October 2026, the agency said it had screened the application from Royal Builders Inc. for an environmental permit. The site is Plot 'DT' and 'CC' Hyde Park, Timehri, East Bank Demerara.
The EPA decided the project will not have a significant impact on the environment. So it does not have to do an Environmental Impact Assessment, which is a formal study of how a project could affect the environment.
The EPA said its decision is in no way a sign that the project is approved.
The agency has reached the same view on other projects. It found that The Arcade does not need an Environmental Impact Assessment. Peak Development Inc. proposed The Arcade, a multi-purpose commercial facility at Providence, East Bank Demerara. It made a similar finding on the Gold Hill Sand Project, a sand mine of CEALT Logistics Inc.
Stabroek News reported that the EPA began publishing its reasons for such exemptions in November 2021. According to the paper, this followed pressure from environmentalists and appeals to the Environmental Assessment Board over earlier exemptions, including the Demerara Harbour Bridge.
The notice says anyone who may be affected by the proposed project can appeal the agency's decision. They have thirty days from the date the notice was published to file an appeal.