Assembly Bags ?19m From Sale of Seized Timber

THE ASANTE Akim North District Assembly has so far realised ?19 million out of the sale of timber products seized from illegal chain-saw operators this year.

This was achieved because the Assembly decided to act to minimise activities of the chain-saw operators which have heavily depleted the forests.

The DCE, Mr. George Frimpong, in an interview with the Chronicle said, to his end, a regular monitoring team was set up to see how best the problem could be curtailed.

He said only one of the chain-saw operators has registered with the Assembly at a fee of ?40,000.

However, the number currently engaged in the business is quite high considering the numerous violations of the law banning their operations.

Frimpong said an estimated amount of ?1million was envisaged in the Assembly's budget in the area of illegal chain-saw activities this year, yet their realisation of this figure is an indication that the problem is still inherent.

He revealed that the Assembly has been receiving complaints from farmers about the wanton destruction of their crops through indiscriminate felling of trees by chain-saw operators.

Some, it is reported, just invade the farms with their machines and start felling the trees without reference to the owner of the land.

The DCE said the exercise has been successful due to a joint police and district assembly collaboration which has reduced such activities.

He emphasised that the exercise would continue to promote afforestation since the President himself is championing the cause of reafforestation by planting trees.

In a related development, the Forestry Department at Juaso has, as at November this year, paid into Government Miscellaneous Account ?15.4 million realised from the sale of sawn timber seized from illegal operators.

Mr. Amoah Acheampong, district manger of Forestry, covering Asante Akim North and South as well as part of Ejisu-Juaben, made this known in an interview at Juaso last Tuesday.

He explained that Section 37, sub-section 2 & 3 of Legislative Instrument (LI 1649) of 1998, enjoins the Forestry Department to be informed of any seized timber products within 24 hours. Sale of it, the instrument directs, must not be effected until after 14 days of confiscation.

On the payment of royalties for timber products, Acheampong said the District Assembly in whose concession the products are felled is allocated 55%, traditional council 20% whilst the stool lands is given 25%.

However, before the disbursement, 10% of the gross is paid into the account of the Administrator of Stool Lands, being the government.