WESTERN Province MPA for Ward 18 Hon George Solingi Lilo is still not yet satisfied with the round log licence fee amount recently passed in the Full Assembly meeting.

He said the round log marketable price is dropping within US$110,000 and the lowest comes in US$85,000, so when working on US dollars the current licence fee passed is still nothing.

“The important thing I think is the regulatory part for us to promote tourism by decreasing our activity on logging because logging operators target Western Province very much,” said Hon Lilo.

“When I see that only 15 percent is for Landowners, 25 percent for SIG and 60 percent is for logging companies, be mindful of the fact that round logs are roughly around US$110,000 per cubic metre so the amount lifted on the license fee is still nothing.”

It has been recently passed in the Western Province Business Licence Amendments for 2017-2018 that round log exports licence fee for Western Province will now be between the ranges of SBD$125,000 to $175,000.