Accra, May 30, GNA - Government on Friday conducted bidding session for the first batch of applicants for Off-Reserve Timber Utilization Contract (TUC) areas.

Out of 149 applicants, 107 timber companies who revised their bids for the second time and were accepted won the lots. These companies would be given letters of grant by the Forestry Commission after which they would be expected to fulfil their financial obligations and other conditions such as engaging in social responsibility activities in communities they would be operating in. The Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines and the Forestry Commission (FC) conducted the one day bidding session in Accra, where applicants were expected to bid for a minimum of 316,119.09 Ghana cedis and a maximum of 347,731.00 Ghana cedis.

Ms Esther Obeng Dapaah, Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, at the opening of the session said the process that began a few years ago was aimed at bringing fairness, transparency and good governance in the granting of timber harvesting rights.

She said though the previous bidding processes were successfully conducted, there had been some challenges, especially in the non-payment of pledges made by bid winners as a result of speculative bids by companies.

As a result, a large number of the TUCs had not been granted and others withdrawn because bid winners had not been able to fulfil their financial and other statutory obligations. She said her Ministry, FC, the Timber Rights Evaluation Committee (TREC), together with other major players and stakeholders had tried to resolve some of the challenges.

"It is my hope that the new process will bring some relief to all timber producers who have for a long time been complaining of shortage of raw materials," she added.

Ms. Obeng Dappah said once a bid was accepted for a particular Lot, the bidder must be prepared to pay all the laid down fees and charges within the stipulated period as determined by the FC. She warned that the Ministry would not hesitate to request the FC to apply the full and necessary sanctions on defaulters. She appealed to all to put in measures such as tree planting to help in the sustainability of the forest resources that were almost depleted.