REVIEW LAW ON CHAINSAW OPERATIONS (PAGE 22)

From Rose Hayford Darko, Ashaiman.

Members of the Domestic Lumber Trade Association of Ghana ( DOLTA ) have appealed to the government to review the law which prohibits the use of chainsaw in turning wood into lumber for commercial purposes.
They claimed that the law, LI 1649, had become ineffective and discriminatory as it had promoted indiscriminate felling of trees and corruption, since the chainsaw operators had rather had a field day hiding in the forest and indiscriminately felling trees.
The National President of the Association, Mr Victor Kobla Nyadi, made the appeal at a press conference organised by the association in Ashaiman to explain the true picture of what happened in the wood sector.
He said currently 85 per cent of wood sold at the various timber markets was chainsawn, with the remaining 15 per cent from the sawmills which were supposed to supply 100 per cent wood to the local market.
Mr Nyadi noted that without chainsawn products, the local market situation would be chaotic.
He said the association had resolved to register, in collaboration with forestry officers, all chainsaw operators and help them to form co-operatives to streamline their operations.
He said they had started an afforestation project across the country to restore forest resources which had been depleted as a result of the indiscriminate felling of trees.
Mr Nyadi disclosed that the association had also decided to extend support to the government in its efforts to save forest resources.
He called on the district, municipal and metropolitan assemblies to set up a machinery to bring into their fold all chainsaw operators to educate them, along with the collection of levies to support government’s afforestation programmes.
An executive member of the association, Mr Louis Attah Attakey, stressed the need for stakeholders to work together in the formulation of regulatory policies which would help develop the sector.