| -over 2M hectares of forest will be up for re-allocationOne day after news broke that Malaysian-owned Barama Company Limited (BCL) is scaling back itsMinister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotmanlocal operations, government has announced plans to launch a review to determine exactly what Guyana benefitted from over the last 25 years.Following the review, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) will be determining what to do with the 1.6M hectares that BCL has now given up. Barama Company was the biggest holder of forestry concessions in Guyana.With BCL’s concessions and 600,000-plus hectares that were repossessed recently from Chinese-owned BaiShanLin, Guyana now has an additional 2M hectares of forests lands available for re-allocations.The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) yesterday,cheap jerseys, in an official release, confirmed thatBCL has notified the Government of Guyana that it has opted not to renew its Forest Concession Agreement which expired on October 15,NFL Jerseys Supply, 2016, after 25 years.The ministry said that discussions on the renewal had commenced over a year ago, with BCL being provided with a draft agreement for review and negotiations. A task force was established to examine Barama’s operations to pave the way for a new agreement.“BCL in communicating its decision not to renew its concession, noted that the company concluded that it was no longer viable to continue in the forestry operations in view of prevailing global prices.”Barama’s decision has given Guyana some opportunities, the ministry said yesterday.“The decision of BCL presents an opportunity to engage in a stocktaking exercise where government can objectively assess the value of the standing forest through its contribution to the ecosystem while simultaneously examining the value of the past 25 years to the people of Guyana.”Barama’s plywood factory operations at Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara.According to Government officials, this review will likely entail examining what Barama exported in terms of logs and the revenues that were earned by the GFC and other state agencies from the various operations of the company.The assessment would be pivotal in the decision-making process as it relates to economic empowerment and development of sustainable livelihoods of present and future generations.The ministry made it clear that the concessions that Barama held will be up for re-allocations.“Following the review, the Guyana Forestry Commission will shortly be making a determination about the future allocation of the Barama concession.”Smooth ClosureAlready,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, the MNR has mandated GFC to work with Barama to ensure a “smooth closure” of all concession related activities within the stipulated period, and to ensure that “all labour and other related issues” are fully addressed in a holistic manner in keeping with applicable laws and regulations.“The government thanks BCL for its involvement over the past 25 years, and will be engaging the company in further discussions on its stated interest in the continuation of the added value activities.”In the Thursday edition of Kaieteur News, Barama in a paid advertisement announced plans to cut back operations. The company signaled intentions to exit its forestry operations and concentrate instead on its plywood and veneer manufacturing and sawmilling.Government had over the past year made proposals to Barama, with a new agreement expected to be signed by the end of last month.The company in the advertisement announced that it will not be seeking the renewal/extension of its Forest Concession Agreement with government.The agreement expired last Saturday and Barama immediately signaled its intentions to reduce its activities.According to the company, it very much regrets having to make the decision to close its forest concession operations after having, over the past 25 years, invested approximately $45B in the development of Guyana’s forest industry.The company said it told Government that “the economic conditions influencing the company’s continuing investment in Guyana’s forest industry” were not encouraging.“Barama has, as a consequence, now regrettably concluded that it is no longer viable for the company to continue its forestry operations. The company looks forward to engaging with government to explore the continuation of its other operations to sustain our value-added and job creation potential in Guyana and to determine a new investment agreement.”Next week, Barama will meet with Government officials and GFC to discuss the way forward and what would happen to the almost 800 workers that it had in its employ in Essequibo and at Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara.Major InvestorThe company had insisted that while it has 1.6M hectares of forest lands, for all practical purposes it can only utilize about 1.1M hectares, with the rest being inaccessible and in swampy areas.With Barama also doing significant business with suppliers and others,Cheap Jerseys From China, including transportation services providers,Cheap Jerseys From China, it is likely that there will be ripple effects.Barama, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samling Global Limited, was established in Guyana in 1991.Barama was one of two major foreign investors that came to Guyana in the early 90s.While Barama initially started with the extraction of logs,Cheap NFL jerseys China, it eventually ventured into manufacturing of plywood and evolved to include veneer and sawn timber operation.In 1993, it established a plywood operation. This was followed by the setting-up of a sawmill operation in 1996 at its Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara site and two others at the Buckhall site in 2006 and 2008.According to GFC figures, Guyana has almost 12.6M hectares of state forest with around 6.9M allocated for forestry and other activities.GFC, through consecutive Governments, has been pushing forestry operators to increase production, arguing that the annual allowable cuts were far below expectations. |
