Georgetown : The Alliance For Change denounces the secretive manner in which the PPP/C Government and its agent the Guyana Forestry Commission has awarded over 1.8 million acres of prime forest lands to Vaitama Holdings Private Inc of India, a company with apparently no background qualification in the forestry sector.
The Party notes, too, that this deal was shut out completely from Mr. Erik Solheim, Norway’s Environment Minister, in his recent appearance here in Guyana to make a downpayment of a further US$40M
into the GRIF account for the year 2011.
AFC also raised concerns the $600 million buyout by Vaitarna of a 345,961 hectares concession which was originally awarded to Caribbean Resources Inc.
The AFC asserts that the processing and upgrading of the forestry produce into more value-added products creates numerous upstream and downstream jobs in an economy driven with an already high unemployment rate. Further, log exportation will only deprive Guyana of a forestry manufacturing base. "By opening the door to raw exports, the Government has weakened the business case for local investment in skills and concomitant capacities in sawmilling projects (and tertiary item production such as furniture) in this sector which, without doubt, can bring in huge revenues," the party stated.
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