REM Rapport Annuel No. 1 OIF Congo Brazzaville - Forests Monitor

For the next Forest Commission meetings, REM also recommends greater participation by
all members in evaluating the dossiers, notably by examining the ratings established by the
technical committee.
C. On Fulfilment of the Conditions for Approval
The dossier of the company designated by the Forest Commission as having won the call for
tender, 39 the Million Well Congo Bois Company, was approved pending submission of the
elements missing from the dossier. The Forest Commission demanded that the company
produce the following documents: proof of capital and the bank guarantee for the loans
intended to finance the investments. Although noted as missing in the summary sheet, the
identification number and the certified copy of the board of directors’ deliberations were not
included on this list.
On several occasions, REM requested copies of the documents the company needed to
present to the Forest Administration. To date, it has not received any information on this
subject.
It would appear that the MEF signed the Million Well agreement without following the
Forest Commission’s conclusions demanding that the company provide the documents
necessary for the negotiations to continue.
REM recommends that, in the future, the decision be made to suspend all negotiations
intended to lead to the signature of an agreement as long as the applicant whose dossier was
approved conditionally has not provided the required documents.
D. On the Agreement Signature Procedure
Following the Forest Commission meeting, a winner and a runner-up 40 are designated for
each FMU offered in the call for tender. The winner is the person that was approved by the
Commission but has not yet been attributed the forest concession. The two notions are
distinct and must not be confused. Being approved by the Forest Commission to develop an
FMU means that the Forest Commission, according to criteria based on legal texts, evaluated
the candidates’ applications and determined which people were approved for the areas cited
in the call for tender. In short, this means that only approved people will be called to
negotiate an agreement with the government. 41 When it comes to the notion of “being
attributed an FMU for its development,” this implies that the negotiations with the aim of
signing an agreement have been undertaken and completed by the parties, and also that the
agreement has been signed by the Minister of Forest Economy and the logging company
concerned. The allocation is only effective from the date on which the order approving the
agreement is published.
39 The runner‐up was not explicitly designated, but logically would be the company placing second under the rating system.
40 The interest in designating a runner‐up is to be found in the event that the conditions set by the Administration in view
of negotiating the agreement do not satisfy the party that won the call for tender. In this set of circumstances, the runnerup
takes the winner’s place without a need to issue a new call for tender. In the case of the development of the Enyellé‐
Ibenga FMU, a winner (Million Well Congo Bois) was designated but no runner‐up was designated.
41 The runner up is only called to negotiate if the winner desists.
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