Press Releases for the Forestry Sector, 2007

Sabie Mpumalanga, 30 August 2007 - The Minister of Public Enterprises, Mr. Alec Erwin, visited the fire ravaged areas of Komatiland Forests, a subsidiary of SAFCOL, in Mpumalanga today.

The fires started on Friday 27 July and were fought bravely for 8 days by Komatiland Forests employees, Working on Fire and by other contractors.

About 17 400 ha of Komatiland plantations were affected by the fires and this will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the availability of softwood sawlog resources in the medium and longer term.

SAFCOL have provisionally estimated the costs of fire fighting, harvesting, transport, wet storage of timber, site clearing and re-establishment which will be incurred as a result of the fires. However at this stage, it is too early to tell the exact financial implications.

This has been the biggest fire incident recorded in the history of SAFCOL/KLF.

Ends

Komatiland Forests and DPE

For enquiries contact:
Mr Leslie Mudimeli Spokesperson KLF 082 804 9311
Ms Lulu Bam Lulu.bam@dpe.gov.za 012 431 1122 078 378 5409

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