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Concerns about the Guyana Forestry Commission and sawmill owners and operators
Dear Editor,
Please grant us space in your newspapers to express our views on issues affecting portable sawmill owners/operators. We are also asking of you to please investigate the circumstances laid out in this letter.
There are currently hundreds of sawmills purchased during a five year period with millions of dollars being paid to the Guyana Forestry Commission.
Today, many of these mills are not in operation due to pressures emitting from the said entity.
As portable sawmill owners and operators throughout Guyana, we are faced with the ever-changing demands of the Guyana Forestry Commission. The said commission has imposed upon us tremendous challenges and constraints halting the proper flow and operation of these mills.
First of all, a portable sawmill, as the name implies, is a piece of equipment that can be used anywhere as deemed possible for the effective conversion of logs at any given place or time.
The Guyana Forestry Commission treats portable wood mills as a static mill, (being placed at a fixed location) and logs have to be transported miles to its location maximizing production costs.
There is also a requirement for an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) license which is a complete waste of time for sawmills operating within concessions, and if a mill is to be relocated to another location a new license is also required.
The said EPA license is also a duplication of many rules also sated in the code of practice for mill operators. An EPA license should only apply to mills operating within residential areas.
The Commission is also charging portable mill owners/operators a hefty price for the license, which is then expired on the 31st of December and a new one has to be made; so if a mill is registered in November for $80,000 and expires on December of the same year, a new license would have to be taken out on January for another $80,000.
The Guyana Forestry Commission has rules or a code of practice governing the effective operation of mills. We, as owners and operators, are calling on the Honorable Minister responsible for the forestry sector to address these issues that are stifling the industry.
Portable sawmill owners/operators
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