Firms set to log

 By TONY PALME KIP

THE National Forest Authority (PNGFA) has signed a sales and purchase agreement with three local companies from Mt Hagen, Western Highlands, to commercialise its Waghi Forest Plantation.

Danoni Construction Ltd, Woodstar Ltd and M2K Services Ltd will cut timber from the plantation through a 50-year agreement term.

The companies’ managing directors Benjamin Negints, Lekson Wantaki and James Weiya signed an agreement at the head office in Port Moresby on Tuesday.

They thanked PNGFA for having the trust in them to undertake forest activities in the province.

“We will grasp the opportunity with both hands,” Negints said.

Wantaki said: “We will try our best not to fail PNGFA.

“It’s a service oriented signing, a win-win situation for PNGFA, Government, public and us.”

PNGFA had selected the three businessmen out of 11 potential contractors in Western Highlands.

According to Forest Development director Tunou Sabuin, the three businessmen would cut one cubic metre of timber from the plantation for K90.

“We have high hopes in them to process the timbers in their processing facilities and sell quality finished products to customers as treated poles and sewn timbers,” Sabuin said. He said the Waghi Forest Plantation project has a capacity of 1 million cubic metres that will run for 50 years on 20,000 cubic metres as the annual sustainable cut for the plantation.

Sabuin said plantation development in the country was the way forward.

“There has been a lot of negativities about logging and operating in natural forests,” he said.

“It’s about time we should take some pressure off PNGFA operations.

“We need Government support, political support, landowner support and former landowner support because the plantations that we are going to work on and see the fruits are State land.”