THE mahogany sector is a $100million industry, says Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica.
While appearing on The Fiji Times online portal The Lens@177, Mr Kamikamica said he was looking forward to working closely with industry stakeholders as he takes over the Ministry of Public Enterprises portfolio.
“I’m a particularly excited because I was key in getting the Mahogany Bill over the line and at the Public Enterprise, I will be looking after Fiji Hardwood so we can actively home in on that sector.
“I used to say colloquially it is a $100million industry a year in terms of export but then I spoke to the consultants who were working on our report for Investment Fiji they said it was a $200million.”
He said it was a massive industry for the country.
“The greatest thing we have done with the changes is that the landowners are going to benefit from it.
“The previous regime took away their shareholding so basically, they had zero shareholding in (Fiji Hardwood). So we reinstated that.
“Not only that the Mahogany Bill allows for the active participation of the landowner.”
Mr Kamikamica added investment portfolios by Unit Trust of Fiji was also showing signs of positive and immense growth.
“They have been quietly moving but they can become a potential billion dollar investment portfolio in the not too distant future.
“So there’s some very exciting things happening in public enterprise and hopefully I can move things around so that we start developing some real opportunities for the future.”
Episode 3 of The Lens@177 interview with Mr Kamikamica can be found on The Fiji Times Facebook page.
