Logging company Vaitarna Holding Private Incorporated (VHPI) has been granted a Timber Sales Agreement (TSA) for the 391,853 hectares of forest originally awarded in 2007 to US-based Simon and Shock International Logging Inc (SSILI), and can now harvest logs from the concessions.
The concessions are located in Regions Nine and Six. VHPI is a subsidiary of the India-based Coffee Day Group. Coffee Day, through its Dark Forest subsidiary, in 2010 acquired the State Forest Exploratory Permit (SFEP) for 391,853 hectares of forest originally awarded in 2007 to SSILI, after buying out SSILI. The company subsequently moved to acquire a TSA which has now been granted, enabling the company to harvest logs from the concession.
VHPI also holds a 345,961 hectares concession which was originally assigned to Caribbean Resources Limited (CRL) after paying $600 million to the government for the TSA. The company has been harvesting and exporting logs from this concession. As with other foreign logging companies, questions have been raised about their intentions to
