Forestry Tasmania (FT) are believed to be interested in taking over the management rights to Gunns’ 18 MIS plantation projects advertised in the national press this week.
Industry insiders feel MIS management would complement FT’s business and provide work for the 300 plus employees currently twiddling their thumbs in the sheltered workshop in Melville Street waiting for the bushfire season to start.
”FT is used to making losses, so it should be a perfect fit”, one insider said, adding “...... if FT learns from all its mistakes it will soon become a world leader”.
FT’s latest plantation establishment attempts have been labelled by some as “the most expensive plantations in the world” but it has mastered the science of clear felling and that’s all that will be involved as the MIS projects are unlikely to see a second rotation.
The management rights of the Gunns’ MIS projects are estimated to have a current market value of zero.
The costs of maintaining the projects until harvest consist principally of rent payments to landlords and FT will be able to use the $110 million allocated to it in the last State Budget to help keep FT afloat and enable the rental payments to the estimated 250 landlords to continue.
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