Gabon has asked Morocco to develop and market its eucalyptus plantation following an agreement between the two which was signed and witnessed by Gabonese President Omar Bongo Ondimba.
Under the agreement, the project was handed over to a Moroccan company, Cellulose Morocco, which is expected to create 200 direct jobs and hundreds of indirect jobs.
The project will be implemented in two phases. Under the first phase, the Gabonese government will grant the Moroccan company a licence for the exploitation and development of the eucalyptus plantation over an area of 620 hectares.
In the second phase, Gabon will allow Cellulose Marocco to set up and exploit new eucalyptus plantations as well as other marketable timber species over 20,000 hectares of land.
In return, the Moroccan company, through its subsidiary in Gabon, will pay royalty of 2,400 F CFA per hectare, per annum, as well as an all-inclusive price of 5,700 F CFA per tonne of exploited eucalyptus.
