| By Kiana Wilburg Moves are currently afoot to address the “lull” that exists in the forestry sector. This is according toNatural Resources Minister,Cheap Air Max Shoes, Raphael TrotmanMinister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman. At the press conference yesterday to report on matters that were raised at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the politician was asked to state the plans currently in place to improve the competitiveness of the sector given the current slowdown.Trotman acknowledged that there has been a 15 percent drop in the performance of the industry. He said that a Cabinet subcommittee has been established to contemplate options for the future of the forestry sector.He said that the subcommittee comprises the Ministries of Social Protection, Natural Resources, Public Infrastructure and the Indigenous People’s Affairs.“There are many options that government has; do we aggressively go back to giving out our forests for harvesting of logs? Do we do so in a less aggressive way and withhold some for carbon credit financing? The subcommittee will report to Cabinet soon,Wholesale Nike Air Max 97,” expressed Trotman.The Guyana Forestry Commission has since made calls for even more incentives to be granted in an effort to make the sector more competitive. This is according to its Proposed National Log Export Policy report (2016 – 2020).In light of the new trends and future expectations for forests and timber trade, the report deemed such a move to be a “critical” one.According to the Forestry Commission in this document,Air Max 97 Silver Womens, incentives are aimed at continuing to support economic activities while embracing environmentally sound practices.It noted that in 2007, the forestry sector in collaboration with GO-Invest (Guyana Office for Investment), made several proposals to address incentives for the sector. It said that the sector has benefited significantly from a number of incentives instituted and is now seeking to address other areas of concern to support investment in the sector.GFC said that efforts have been made to seek input from a wide cross section of stakeholders within the sector. It said that several companies were interviewed to gain insight to the current challenges faced by companies at the various stages of production as well as some of the mechanisms envisaged to be possible solutions. Together with these inputs and the GFC’s assessments,Nike Air Max 1 Mens Cheap, a number of options were proposed in the document.The Guyana Forestry Commission proposed in its report that one crucial incentive would be exemptions from VAT, Import Duty and Excise Tax, on harvesting equipment and machinery, as well as forestry added value equipment.The Commission said that the harvesting and manufacturing sub-sector of the Forest Sector faces similar constraints as other primary and manufacturing sub-sectors. It said however that the forestry sector is among the first traditional industries in Guyana.To further cement its recommendation of this type of incentive,Adidas Ultra Boost Shoes Cheap, the Commission asserted that manufacturers and downstream processors have been plagued with the use of outdated equipment and machinery due to the lack of financial investments or incentives.Additionally, it said that the high cost owing to the various taxes on harvesting equipment has resulted in a low productivity at the concession/harvesting level. The Commission believes that these in turn has reduced the sector’s ability to be competitive.The GFC continued, “Equipment to process waste material into finished products can significantly benefit the sector by increasing rate of recovery. Imports of materials to include in harvesting and processing stages are critical to the manufacturing of select forest products.“Furthermore, higher investment in forest harvest equipment and replacement of obsolete machinery will increase productivity and output.”With regard to this proposed incentive, the Commission noted that there is a consultation process with forest producers and manufacturers to identify equipment.However, it said that this is being sought, to have a specified list of equipment and machinery specific to the forestry and manufacturing sub sectors of the forest industry be included in an effort to promote and encourage investment in the sector.Another crucial incentive recommended by the Commission was the need to have tax waivers on spare parts, components and tooling. GFC said that concession holders and operators invest on an annual basis a significant amount on spare parts and components for logging equipment. It noted that some companies invest in excess of $34 million annually in this category.“Many companies maintain outdated equipment and machinery and reduce the amount of maintenance on equipment due to high costs of these. A waiver will allow for higher levels of efficiency and increase the lifespan of equipment, increase productivity due to maintenance, reduce cost of operations,Air Max 97 Silver Bullet Mens, reduce the risk of accidents and increase health and safety of employees.”GFC said that this is strongly encouraged as an incentive to improve the processing capability of the wood processing sub-sector and will also be consistent with the thrust of the Code of Practice for Processing Operations. |
