Pre-bid meeting held for investors to promote forestry investments

The event was organised to sensitise prospective businessmen

LAHORE: The South Punjab Forest Company (SPFC) in collaboration with the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) organised a pre-bid meeting and seminar to sensitise prospective investors regarding the forestry opportunity offered by the Punjab government.

The pre-bid meeting aimed at addressing any queries of the investors and also to incorporate their suggestions in the bidding proposal that could help to make the opportunity economically and environmentally viable for investors.



The officials of the SPFC and LCCI also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) through which both organisations will collaborate to promote investments in the forestry sector at large. According to the SPFC, the concept of inviting bidders from private sector came about with the realisation that any afforestation project requires huge capital for the transformation of land.

Through the  ‘Afforestation Project in South Punjab’ for which bidders have been invited to submit proposals, the SPFC intends to provide land to private investors for setting up forests for a certain period of time, sufficient for them to recover their investments and earn reasonable returns thereon.



According to proposal documents large areas are lying blank in the forests and plantations of South Punjab, mainly due to lack of financial resources with the provincial and federal governments.

In a presentation on investment opportunities in forestry sector Tahir Rasheed CEO SPFC said that 99,077 acres of land from five districts of south Punjab would be handed over to private sector for afforestation and range management  for 15 years.

Rasheed said that the initiative will benefit local economy by creating over 15,000 jobs and most importantly provide sustainably farmed wood to the wood-based industry, eventually reducing logging pressure on the natural forests of Pakistan.



SPFC Chairman Awais Leghari said that the project would offer minimum risks with high returns to the investors.  He added that investing in SPFC’s initiative could yield profits ranging from 25-50% and that the deadline for submission of proposals is September 15, 2017.

According to information mentioned in the proposal document, the project is expected to have a number of benefits that includes amelioration of climate and carbon sequestration for mitigation of climate change, soil conservation, especially the top soil layers which are critical for agricultural production, safeguarding communities and infrastructure against wind storms and sand storms.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2017.