ONE MILLION FIRST OR NO FELLING

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BY GEORGINA KEKEA

 THE Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement (DCGA) expects a new regulation on the issuance of felling license by August 2019.


In the DCGA’s ‘first 100 days priority document’ loggers will pay a $1 million bond before being issued with a felling license.

DCGA says the license is to have conditions on the quota allowed and the timing when operation should start.


A felled tree in Western province
Photo by Tyrone Lavery
Also DCGA’s expected activities in the first 100 days in the Ministry of Forestry includes an increase of license fee from $10,000 to $50,000.

At the same time, all non-active licenses are to be given notice of revocation unless operations commence within a given period.


These changes will lead to the gazette of a new regulation in the logging sustainability policy of the DCGA by August 2019.


In 2014 a report provided by the Forestry sector showed that 254 licenses were for felling while 121 were in- active licenses. 133 were operational licenses.


The logging sector has been one of the key contributors to overall growth of the country over the past years.


The volume of production is expected to slow down over the medium term once government’s sustainable policy is implemented.

This would impact log exports, revenue receipts and gross foreign reserves in the near term.


The government’s 2019 BUDGET STRATEGY and OPERATIONAL RULES says the challenge for government is to seek alternative sources of broad-based growth to offset the loss in logging revenues and sustain the economy of the country over the medium term.


Ends///

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