By Jeorge Wilson KINGSON
The government has announced a three-way area plan to assist the timber industry in getting raw materials, especially in the wake of the alarming depletion of the country’s natural forest reserve, BusinessWeek has gathered.
The plans have been grouped into three categories, namely short-term, medium term and long term strategies.
Revealing this in parliament last week, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, said the government is concerned about the depletion of the country’s forest reserves and will therefore do everything possible to protect it.
According to him, the short term plans include waiver of import levy on imported logs to enable competitive companies to import logs into the country.
The Annual Allowable Cuts (AAC) has also been raised from one million cubic meters to two million cubic meters so as to make more wood available to the timber firms, as well as salvage the trees from destruction by farmers and illegal harvesting operations.
He said a Legislative Instrument (LI) was also being drafted for the issuance of permits in off-reserve and plantation areas, which do not qualify as Timber Utilization Contracts (TUCs).
Re-tooling inefficient processing mills, as provided in the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), to ensure optimum utilization of the wood resource and waste reduction, forms the medium term strategy, according to the minister.
For the long term strategy, Alhaji Dauda said there would be a rigorous implementation of the National Forest Plantation Development Programme to make wood available to the industry. An annual target of 30,000 has been set under the programme.
There will also be the promotion of Lesser Used timber Species (LUS). “Out of over 250 timber species found in our forests, currently only about 60 species are being utilized commercially. Consequently, research is underway to promote and commercialize the lesser used species,” the minister stated.
He said the promotion of downstream processing to move towards the policy of Less Volume, High Volume regime will also be pursued.
Alhaji Dauda stated that under the Lands Administration Project (LAP) a new lands bill is being developed to consolidate all the land laws of the country and update them so as to remove the obnoxious aspects of the law.
One of such laws is the Lands Development (Protection of Purchasers) Act, 1960 (Act 2). The law was enacted to protect purchasers of land whose titles were found to be defective after a building had been erected on the land.
The rationale for the Act was to give protection to people who might have acquired land out of good faith, but might not have acquired it from the rightful owner. For a person to be protected under the Act, three conditions must be met.
The person must have taken a conveyance in a prescribed area after December 31, 1944. The purchaser or a person claiming through the purchaser might have in good faith erected a building on the land. Proceedings might have been bought to obtain a possession order in relation to the land on ground that a person other than the purchaser or a person claiming through the purchaser is entitled to the land.
According to the Act, a person is considered to have erected a building if that person has carried out the greater part of the work required for the erection of the building.
But the minister said the interpretation of this provision has given cause to the misconception that when a property has been developed up to lintel level it cannot be demolished.
He said the Act operated only in prescribed areas and that by L.I 118 of 1961, parts of Accra were declared as prescribed areas. This included areas from coast to Asylum Down, Kokomlemle and Adabraka.
The government has announced a three-way area plan to assist the timber industry in getting raw materials, especially in the wake of the alarming depletion of the country’s natural forest reserve, BusinessWeek has gathered.
The plans have been grouped into three categories, namely short-term, medium term and long term strategies.
Revealing this in parliament last week, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, said the government is concerned about the depletion of the country’s forest reserves and will therefore do everything possible to protect it.
According to him, the short term plans include waiver of import levy on imported logs to enable competitive companies to import logs into the country.
The Annual Allowable Cuts (AAC) has also been raised from one million cubic meters to two million cubic meters so as to make more wood available to the timber firms, as well as salvage the trees from destruction by farmers and illegal harvesting operations.
He said a Legislative Instrument (LI) was also being drafted for the issuance of permits in off-reserve and plantation areas, which do not qualify as Timber Utilization Contracts (TUCs).
Re-tooling inefficient processing mills, as provided in the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), to ensure optimum utilization of the wood resource and waste reduction, forms the medium term strategy, according to the minister.
For the long term strategy, Alhaji Dauda said there would be a rigorous implementation of the National Forest Plantation Development Programme to make wood available to the industry. An annual target of 30,000 has been set under the programme.
There will also be the promotion of Lesser Used timber Species (LUS). “Out of over 250 timber species found in our forests, currently only about 60 species are being utilized commercially. Consequently, research is underway to promote and commercialize the lesser used species,” the minister stated.
He said the promotion of downstream processing to move towards the policy of Less Volume, High Volume regime will also be pursued.
Alhaji Dauda stated that under the Lands Administration Project (LAP) a new lands bill is being developed to consolidate all the land laws of the country and update them so as to remove the obnoxious aspects of the law.
One of such laws is the Lands Development (Protection of Purchasers) Act, 1960 (Act 2). The law was enacted to protect purchasers of land whose titles were found to be defective after a building had been erected on the land.
The rationale for the Act was to give protection to people who might have acquired land out of good faith, but might not have acquired it from the rightful owner. For a person to be protected under the Act, three conditions must be met.
The person must have taken a conveyance in a prescribed area after December 31, 1944. The purchaser or a person claiming through the purchaser might have in good faith erected a building on the land. Proceedings might have been bought to obtain a possession order in relation to the land on ground that a person other than the purchaser or a person claiming through the purchaser is entitled to the land.
According to the Act, a person is considered to have erected a building if that person has carried out the greater part of the work required for the erection of the building.
But the minister said the interpretation of this provision has given cause to the misconception that when a property has been developed up to lintel level it cannot be demolished.
He said the Act operated only in prescribed areas and that by L.I 118 of 1961, parts of Accra were declared as prescribed areas. This included areas from coast to Asylum Down, Kokomlemle and Adabraka.
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