An upgrading of the Puruni Road in Region Seven is one of the measures the government will undertake to ease the problems being experienced in the forestry industry.
This was conveyed by Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat to members of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) at a meeting on June 9th.
A delegation including President of the GMSA, Rafeek Khan; Chairman of Extractive Industries, Denish Bisessar; Board Member, Mohindra Chand and Executive Director, Nizam Hassan met with the Minister of Natural Resources to discuss key challenges and opportunities within the forestry and wood products sector.
The GMSA, in a press release on June 11, said that during the meeting the many constraints regarding the supply and demand of raw materials to support the growing construction sector were highlighted.
The release pointed out that one of the main challenges to increasing production has been limited access to the forests due to poor road conditions over the past year. It was noted that road accessibility has worsened due to the current heavy rainfall.
The release said that the Minister disclosed that Government will be collaborating with stakeholders to upgrade the Puruni road in Cuyuni/Mazaruni and are also in discussions to build a bridge across the Puruni River which will facilitate greater access on a 24-hour basis. The release said that several large-scale forest concessionaires are unable to extract timber in areas such as Puruni where there are vast resources and have been under-producing for over a decade. According to the GMSA release, the Minister noted there would be no tolls at the bridge since the company will assist the government with the infrastructure which the state will maintain after its completion.
Such measures will ensure all infrastructural needs are in place to push towards meeting local demand and satisfying the export market. The release also added that Bharrat discussed plans which will commence soon on government acquiring approximately 30 acres of land on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway to initiate the first model of a Consolidated Log Yard to benefit the forestry sector. This, the minister said, would be beneficial in light of the emergence of the many challenges linked to climate change such as adverse weather patterns. Small loggers would also have a facility to store their timber products for easy access to buyers.
In an effort to cushion the effects of short supplies of raw materials and the growing demand for timber, the GMSA recommended that measures be put in place to encourage large scale producers to make their logs “more available for local consumption”. However, due to the overall challenges beyond their control for many operators, it was agreed that the situation be assessed in the next six months which should be sufficient time for production to increase.
Presently, forest production is less than one-third of its allowable cut which is approximately only 1% of the total forest, the release said. GMSA said that it also recognizes the gap in the skillset of semi-skilled and skilled workers in the extractive sector. After discussion with the minister, specific skills training will be provisioned as a joint initiative between the GMSA and the Ministry of Natural Resources to benefit young people across the country and fill the gaps at present. GMSA says it has endorsed and will work to ensure this idea becomes reality.
The GMSA expressed its appreciation to the Ministry for its recent support towards AgroFest in Barbados which ensured representation of Guyanese products and businesses. The release noted that this will help to further cement the success of the St. Barnabas Accord which seeks to create one domestic space between the countries.
