October 28: From December 1, all quarrying and marketing of sand will be looked after by the Forestry Development Corporation Limited which will be restructured as the Natural Resources Development Corporation.

According to a news release from the agriculture ministry the existing sand quarrying contracts will be extended to November 30. Thereafter, no private operator will be allowed to collect or sell sand.

A natural resources pricing committee will be established to set the prices. The price of sand will be initially fixed at Nu 635 per truckload at Punakha and Wangdue.

In Thimphu, a truckload of sand brought from Punakha will be fixed at Nu 4,100.

Presently a truckload of sand from Punakha or Wangdue is sold for about Nu 8,500 in Thimphu. The actual price will be fixed based on the actual operation cost and nominal overheads to reduce the price even below these levels if possible.

In the case for sand deposits on private land, the government will have exclusive rights to mine sand in accordance with the provisions of the land act and mines and mineral management act, if there is a need to do so.

The Natural Resources Development Corporation will take up the marketing of stones from March 1, 2008.

Private entrepreneurs will continue to operate stone quarries in addition to operations by the Natural Resources Development Corporation even after March 2008.

On the price of timber, the news release says the Natural Resources Development Corporation will review the log production costs for all grades and fix the price for log auction across the country.

The Natural Resources Pricing Committee will fix the price of sawn timber for all sawmills and wood based industries under the Natural Resources Development Corporation across the kingdom from January 1, 2008.

The price will vary but the price of sawn timber of widely used conifer would likely fall to around half of the present price of Nu. 450 per cft.

The department of forests and the department of trade will monitor the price of sawn timber. It says the agriculture ministry will develop a more effective system to meet demand while ensuring the present large scale misappropriation of timber intended for rural use to urban is stopped.

The agriculture ministry will also find an efficient means of ensuring the adequate supply of timber in the market while safeguarding the constitutional requirements for minimum forest cover.

The news release says the Royal government in studying the issue considered its responsibility for the promotion of private sector activity and the seeming conflict of the formation of NRDC with private sector policies.

It says the new system affects only a handful of entrepreneurs directly profiting from the sale of these resources while the advantages to the people, to the general private sector, and above all to the nation in its efforts to bring about rapid economic growth are many.

This system and the role and mandate of the NRDC have been developed keeping in mind the prevailing problems and challenges of the Bhutanese economy. They will be reviewed in keeping with the changes in the Bhutanese economy in future.

The changes were initiated following a Royal Command from His Majesty the King, which was conveyed by the Prime Minister to the 87th session of the National Assembly in June 2007, to the government and all related agencies to conduct a detailed study on this issue in order to keep prices affordable, ensure fair and equitable allocation and ensure that the revenue from sand and stone further benefits the people and the nation through its utilization by the government.

The National Assembly had deliberated many times on the issue of quarrying and marketing of sand and stone.