The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) has awarded two lots totaling over 800,000 hectares of the former Barama Company Limited concession to two companies, R.L. Sukhram and Sons Sawmill and Chinese company Rong-An Inc, which is expected to yield a total investment of US$9.5 million by 2020 and the creation of 524 jobs when the operations are at full scale.
The announcement was made yesterday by the Ministry of Natural Resources, which also said that the operations would see an increase of national production level by at least 189,000 m3 annually, an increase in export revenue by at least US$7 million, and an increase in harvesting of Lesser Used Species from the current 10 to 15 percent to at least 25 percent of total production.
In October last year, Barama announced that it was not seeking a renewal of its 25-year concession with the government. Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman subsequently announced that the huge forestry concession, located in the north west of Guyana, had been quartered, with one portion set aside for conservation and another for small loggers interested in pursuing sustainable logging activities.