Due to the pandemic, the Forest Management Unit of Khaling-Kharungla in Trashigang has been facing difficulty in selling timber. The unit has around 24 truckloads of timber worth more than Nu 1.5 M in stock ready to be sold off.
The logs have remained stacked at the Forest Management Unit for more than two years now. Most of the wood are mixed hardwood in the form of logs and planks.
Between 2019 and 2020, the unit extracted 16,000 cubic feet (CFT) of timber which is more than 30 truckloads. More than half of it could not be sold.
Over three thousand CFT was extracted this year of which only about one thousand two hundred CFT were sold.
According to the Forest Management Unit Office, the demand for timber has decreased due to the pandemic.
“Since 2019, due to the pandemic, there were budget constraints and several developmental activities were put on hold. So, that affected our business,” said Nima Dhendrup, the Manager of Khaling-Kharungla Forest Management Unit.
He added that timber quality and transportation charges were some other reasons for the decline in demand.
“The NRDCL does not have the right to select the timbers for extraction. Firstly, we have Acts and as per the forest management plan and operation plan, we extract the timber accordingly”.
Recently, the depot supplied about 1,200 CFT to the Eastern COVID-19 Task Force for the construction of quarantine facilities in Samdrup Jongkhar. Apart from that, there has been no demand at all.
But with extraction works still ongoing, the office expects more problems as more timber will continue to pile up at the site.
Sonam Darjay, Trashigang
Edited by Tshering Zam
