BIDCO drops bid for Bugala forests
THE plan to give away three forests on Bugala Island to a private company has been shelved. The company, Bidco, has abandoned the idea of cultivating palm trees in Banga, Towa and Mugoye forest reserves due to negative publicity and pressure from environmental groups.
By Gerald Tenywa
THE plan to give away three forests on Bugala Island to a private company has been shelved. The company, Bidco, has abandoned the idea of cultivating palm trees in Banga, Towa and Mugoye forest reserves due to negative publicity and pressure from environmental groups.
As a result, the Government has stopped the process of granting Bidco a licence.
“Bidco pointed out that licensing one of its subsidiary companies, Oil Palm Uganda, would jeopardise the loans they are processing with various financing agencies due to negative publicity the project has suffered,†environment minister Maria Mutagamba wrote in a letter to the Attorney General.
Consequently, she wrote, the Government cancelled the license.
According to sources, Bidco’s partner, Wilmar International, is part of an international coalition campaigning for sustainable palm oil production. The coalition has as its main principle that any palm oil production after November 2005 should not replace an area with high conservation values.
“We are not interested in forest reserves,†Kody Rao, the manager of Palm Oil Uganda confirmed to The New Vision yesterday. “What we need from the Government is land and we are still waiting for that land.â€
The Government had offered over 10,000 ha outside the protected forests. But the investors complained that part of the land could not be cultivated because it was a lakeshore protected zone. They also claimed that some of the land was not fertile and was rocky.
In a separate interview, the chairman of the National Forestry Authority also confirmed that the land-use of Bugala forest reserves would not be changed. The plan to change the forests into palm tree plantations, for the production of palm oil, had sparked off a heated debate between environmentalists and the Government.
The controversy led to the resignation of the entire board of the National Forestry Authority, led by Dr. John Kabogooza, in October last year. The management of NFA under Olav Bjella also threw in the towel.
THE plan to give away three forests on Bugala Island to a private company has been shelved. The company, Bidco, has abandoned the idea of cultivating palm trees in Banga, Towa and Mugoye forest reserves due to negative publicity and pressure from environmental groups.
As a result, the Government has stopped the process of granting Bidco a licence.
“Bidco pointed out that licensing one of its subsidiary companies, Oil Palm Uganda, would jeopardise the loans they are processing with various financing agencies due to negative publicity the project has suffered,†environment minister Maria Mutagamba wrote in a letter to the Attorney General.
Consequently, she wrote, the Government cancelled the license.
According to sources, Bidco’s partner, Wilmar International, is part of an international coalition campaigning for sustainable palm oil production. The coalition has as its main principle that any palm oil production after November 2005 should not replace an area with high conservation values.
“We are not interested in forest reserves,†Kody Rao, the manager of Palm Oil Uganda confirmed to The New Vision yesterday. “What we need from the Government is land and we are still waiting for that land.â€
The Government had offered over 10,000 ha outside the protected forests. But the investors complained that part of the land could not be cultivated because it was a lakeshore protected zone. They also claimed that some of the land was not fertile and was rocky.
In a separate interview, the chairman of the National Forestry Authority also confirmed that the land-use of Bugala forest reserves would not be changed. The plan to change the forests into palm tree plantations, for the production of palm oil, had sparked off a heated debate between environmentalists and the Government.
The controversy led to the resignation of the entire board of the National Forestry Authority, led by Dr. John Kabogooza, in October last year. The management of NFA under Olav Bjella also threw in the towel.