Despite granting it millions in concessions, Government is receiving ‘extremely disappointing’ returns from the forestry sector, says Finance Minister,Wholesale Jerseys, Winston Jordan.In an exclusive interview, Jordan added,Cheap Jerseys USA, “There has been a level of disappointment in the forestry sector, particularly from foreign investors.”“Huge concessions have been given out and this refers to both natural and fiscal concessions and the returns have not been great at all. It is extremely, just extremely disappointing and when you challenge some of these investors, you get all kinds of excuses like ‘I can’t do it now and I will put it in two years from now.’The Finance Minister said that the only “rock-solid” factory involved in value added production which government has seen from any foreign investor is the one that has been established by Barama Company Limited. He said that this is the only company he can attest for in this regard as it has been involved in plywood production and other value added services in the forestry sector for over 20 years.“With all the concessions given out and you look and you see what the sector contributes to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP),Cheap Jerseys From China, it would be observed that it contributes in a very minimal way.”The GDP is one of the primary indicators used to gauge the health of a country’s economy. It represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period.On this premise, the Finance Minister reminded that government will be reassessing the forestry sector, “Because the level of concessions we have given out and continue to give out every year it is not worth it. Its contribution to GDP is very small and when people get the concessions they say within x amount of years they will do this and do that and you do not see it.”He was then reminded that after 10 years,NFL Jerseys Outlet, Chinese logging company, BaiShanLin has failed to establish its promised wood processing factory and has even recently requested a two year extension to finally get it done. Though government has not granted the company’s request, Jordan said, “Well you will encounter these kinds of problems but we need to do closer monitoring of these entities when they come, and closer monitoring of our fiscal concessions that we give away and of course we need to do far closer monitoring of the forest.”In the 2015 budget, Jordan had said that following two years of negative growth, in 2011 and 2012, the Forestry sector rebounded in 2014, growing by 14 percent. Logs accounted for 75 percent of the industry’s output. This is in spite of investment agreements that speak of re-investment into downstream value-added industries.He noted too that the Manufacturing Sector grew by 10.7 percent, thanks to improved performances of rice, sugar and other light manufacturing. He said that this sector continues to hold the promise of massive expansion and robust growth, and this can be realized when downstream activities especially in the forestry sector are implemented.But based on the problems and issues encountered in the forestry sector, the Finance Minister had said that the Government has indicated an intention to undertake a thorough review of the Investment Agreements for this sector, to ensure that there is compliance with Regulations and the Agreements and to ensure sustainable harvesting of the forestry product.He had said, “I have seen that the original projection in January was for the 2014 production levels to be sustained in 2015. Suffice to say that at the half year, forestry production was down by 9.8 percent. As a consequence, the sector’s performance for 2015 has been downgraded from January’s projection of zero growth to a negative 1.3 percent.”Presidential Advisor on Sustainable Development, Dr. Clive Thomas, has said that it would be an “unwise and reckless” move for Chinese logging company,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, BaiShanLin, to be granted any further extension on the construction of a long awaited wood-processing facility in Guyana.“I feel it is time that sanctions be imposed,” the Economist added.Word of BaiShanLin’s request for a two-year extension to fulfill its promise first came to the fore during a press conference with Governance Minister, Raphael Trotman a few weeks ago.It was there that Trotman was questioned about his threat some months ago to reveal the action to be taken by the end of October, should BaiShanLin and others fail to make any moves to add value to Guyana’s lumber exports.The Governance Minister also said that when he last spoke with the company (and this was three weeks ago), he was informed that the Chinese logging company