The Forestry Commission (FC), has pledged government support to allocate degraded forest land to West Coast Wooden Products Limited, producers of plywood, to establish their own plantations and get the needed raw materials for their operations.

The Commission said the move was imperative to address the company’s challenge with raw materials to boost their production capacity.

Dr Hugh Clement A.Brown, the Chief Executive of FC, said this during a familiarization visit with the leadership of the Commission to the company located in Afienya in the Greater Accra Region.

“The company is having some challenges regarding raw material, and this was made known to the commission.

“So this is a familiarization visit to see at first hand what is happening here, the production streams, and the jobs being created and also to discuss with them the way forward in terms of short- and long-term solutions to their challenges,” he said.

He said the company needed to get to a point of being self-sufficient in terms of the raw material to meet their capacity level.

Dr Brown expressed satisfaction about the company’s facilities saying “The setup here is built to run 24 hours. The only limiting factor is the raw material, and we believe that once we support them, the company will improve their supply.”

“Currently the company is running mainly one shift, and we believe that with goverment support, they will move to two shifts and possibly three to complete the 24 hour cycle.”

The company has about 1,400 workers between the two processing facilities and envisage a total workforce of 5,000 to create job opportunities to the teeming youth.

He said the timber industry had a huge potential to create sustainable jobs and help improve the wellbeing of the citizens and the economy as a whole.

Mr Elikem Kotoko, Deputy Chief Executive, FC, said as a timber industry, the Commission was poised to help the company to operate sustainably.

“Recently, when Ghana issued a flight license, that is the first law enforcement governance and trade license to the European Union, the company was one of the companies that was able to ship their products to the EU, specifically to Romania.

“So, this tells the whole world that they are operating legally and are sourcing their raw materials from sustainably managed forests, which is an indication of President Mahama’s resolve for every company to be responsible.”

Dr Richard Gyimah, the Executive Director of the Timber Industry Development Division of the Forestry Commission, said the company’s plans of diversifying their products would create more jobs and increase the value chain within the enclave of Tema, Afienya and its environs.

“The company is doing well and should be applauded. Even for energy usage, they have gone a step further to make use of their waste products to generate energy and cut down their electricity usage.

Mr Arnold Dodzi Susuawu, Head of Sales, West Coast Wooden Products Limited, said the company’s future plan was to set up a furniture manufacturing section to provide more job opportunities to the youth in the area.

He said the company was open to give opportunities to vocational and technical institutions to learn on the job through internship and national service.