ENVIRONMENT Ministry permanent secretary Joshua Wycliffe has advised a Lautoka man, who has issues with his logging licence, against burning down his $8 million sawmill and poultry farm.
Ronal Rakesh Nand told Mr Wycliffe he would burn down his Wairabetia sawmill and sheds which could house 172,000 chickens if the bank foreclosed on his 14 acre property.
Mr Nand said he employed 65 people and paid $14,000 a week in wages and was concerned about the future of his workers. He was concerned about the delay in the issuance of a harvest licence.
He told the Western Division Environment Advocacy and Awareness Forum for the Commodity/Extractive/Logging Industry groups that he had already paid $100,000 to villagers to harvest logs in the native forest.
“It’s now been three years, I have been going back and forth to the Environment Department five or six times a year,” he said.
“They told me the Naikoro forest is a REDD+ area. I hope they can give me a licence because the bank is pressuring me, they want to take my mill because I owe them $2 million, I have already paid $6 million. If they seize my property, I will burn everything down.”
Mr Wycliffe urged Mr Nand to meet him at his office in Suva to discuss the issue in detail.
