Barama not seeking renewal of forest concession

Barama Company Limited (BCL) yesterday announced that it is not seeking a renewal of its 25-year concession with the Guyana Government, meaning that dozens more of forestry jobs will be lost. In an advertisement appearing on page 17 of today’s edition, Barama said it will however continue its other projects here inclusive of veneering, plywood manufacturing and sawmilling. “Barama very much regrets having to take the decision to close our forest concession operations after having, over the past 25 years, invested approximately $45B in the development of Guyana’s forest industry”, the advertisement said. BCL’s announcement comes after weeks of mixed signals about whether the deal would be extended and the government appeared to have no inkling of it. Barama was established here in 1991 in a controversial deal which gave South Korean and Malaysian investors control of a lowland, mixed tropical forest concession of approximately 1.6 million hectares in the Northwest region of Guyana. It has had a chequered history with the authorities, facing fines and questions about limited value-added activities in recent years.