LAHORE: South Punjab Forest Company (SPFC) Chairman Awais Leghari says that among all the mafias in the country, the forest mafia is the most influential and strongest one.

At a press conference on Monday, Mr Leghari gave an overview of the SPFC and its initiative to promote afforestation in south Punjab under public-private partnership mode. He said the SPFC would tackle the forest mafia.

He said that 99,077 acres, making up 187 forest lots in Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan, were being offered to the investors for 15 years lease so that commercial forestry and range management activities could be done.

He said commercial forestry was on the rise across the world as more than 870 million hectares of forest were being leased. The commercial forestry sector was valued more than $480 billion. With Pakistan witnessing one of the highest rates of deforestation, it was imperative to promote commercial forestry so that the nationwide wood-based demand could be met sustainably and pressure on natural forests is reduced.

Mr Leghari said the interests of the investors had been ensured through the Punjab Forest Act and Public Private Partnership Act of 2014. The government has set 15 percent of reserve price of the total produce for afforestation and Rs2,000 for range land and the investor offering the highest bid to the government will secure the bid.

He said under the initiative, indigenous trees would be grown, while the project would be monitored by latest technology gadgets such as drones and satellite. He said the project was totally transparent and no one could get any favour out of it.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2017