MULTAN: South Punjab Forest Company (SPFC) will give 134,000 acre area to investors on 15-year lease for afforestation and would start finalizing agreements from May-June this year, SPFC chief executive officer said. Giving a briefing to industrialists at Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), SPFC CEO Tahir Rasheed said that the initiative was being taken in South Punjab with hopes it would be expanded throughout the province. Initially, forest department land of six districts including Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahimyar Khan, Rajanpur and Muzaffargarh was included under the plan. He said that 15-year lease potential investors were likely to win in case of agreement would be extendable for another fifteen years provided rules were adhered to and no law was violated during the first fifteen-year segment.
He said the company would have the share of almost 20 per cent while the investor would get 80 per cent after successful preparation of forest.
The SPFC CEO said that individuals could get 10,000 acre area on lease which could be increased in case some consortium or society of investors apply for it.
He said that law making was in the process to protect investors so that land could not be got vacated before the conclusion of agreement period.
Police protection would also be provided to the investors, forest department and the SPFC.
Investors would be allowed to grow ten kinds of trees, however, plantation of those plants that can hurt our environment, soil, forest and crops or those not experienced before in the country would not be allowed, he added. He said that growing trees was profitable as they grow again after being cut.
MCCI president Khawaja Jalaluddin Rumi, while speaking on the occasion, hailed the Punjab government’s initiative which he believed would improve environment by bringing vast empty areas under plantation.
It will also provide job opportunities to the educated unemployed and give a boost to relevant industries.
