RH supports process

THE Rimbunan Hijau (RH) Group supports downstream processing and value adding of forestry products in the country, says the company’s resources and forestry planning consultant Kanawi Pouru.
Pouru made the remarks while speaking during the 2019 PNG Forestry Summit yesterday when giving a presentation on the challenges that the country faced going into downstream processing of forestry products.
He said RH and other companies were willing to invest in downstream processing but there were some issues such as infrastructure and cost related matters that needed to be addressed. “As a major industry player, the Rimbunan Hijau Group supports domestic or downstream processing and value adding in the country,” Pouru said.
“It (RH) will also support any action that the government is to take to address any issues of costs and competitiveness.”
He said based on the experience that the company had operating five sawmilling or processing projects in the country: “It provides some experiences and range of issues whether downstream processing can truly be made viable in the country.
“Some of the challenges that the sector will have to consider when going into downstream processing is with respect to infrastructure because it is very important.
“For PNG, transport costs are very high when trying to bring in logs and processed products from project sites which are embedded in remote areas which also adds to the high cost of production,” Pouru said.
“Because of the isolation, investors or developers will have to spend a lot of money to build infrastructures such as roads, bridges and wharfs.”
He said the lack of infrastructure placed PNG at a disadvantaged position compared to neighbouring countries in Asia and in Australia and New Zealand that had existing infrastructure that could be used conveniently.
Pouru said for PNG, RH and other large scale operators were able to make investments using the same transport and energy infrastructures for timber processing as they used in harvesting.
“It means that for downstream processing, they have the link with roads and the actual production of the logs.”
Other challenges that impede downstream processing in the country were the diverse species of trees, lack of skilled labour, weather and regulations.