Bankrupt WVCL to be privatised – Kasanga

The Western Veneer and Lumber Company (WVLC), which is indebted to tune of 180 billion cedis, 10 times its total cost of assets, would soon be privatised, Prof Kasim Kasanga, Minister of Lands and Forestry, announced on Thursday.

He said the company was the only remaining state-owned timber processing company out of the five slated for privatisation that had debts far exceeding its assets of about 18 billion cedis.

The Minister, speaking at the inauguration of a five-member Board of Directors of the company, tasked the members to speed up WVLC's divestiture.

He said previous attempts to privatise the WVCL, a merger of the Western Timbers Company and the Takoradi Veneer and Lumber Company were hampered by numerous problems.

Prof Kasanga said the company, which employs about 800 people, was facing numerous lawsuits that posed a threat to the security of its assets. He recalled that Dr Kwaku Afriyie, the former Minister, set up a ministerial fact-finding committee early this year to investigate the company's operations with a view to establishing the root cause of its non-financial performance and its entanglement in protracted lawsuits.

Prof Kasanga said industrial harmony had been restored following the committee's recommendations and the ministry's follow up actions. “But more needs to be done to resuscitate the fortunes of the ailing company.”

The minister appealed to the board to study the committee's report to be abreast with the company's financial situation and assist to implement its. He announced that WVLC's divestiture would soon be placed before Cabinet for consideration.

Mar Prah Ghartey, Chairman of the Board, said members would work hard to re-position the company's image.