A Gunns spokesman said that the company still planned to have work started at the site by the end of the month when state permits run out.

The spokesman would not confirm whether a successful tenderer had been appointed to undertake the work.

But it is understood that a Melbourne-based construction company has got the job and has started recruiting workers.

A spokesman for Premier Lara Giddings said yesterday that no decision had been made on a possible government payout in return for Gunns getting out of native forest harvesting.

Ms Giddings said when she signed the intergovernmental agreement on forestry with Prime Minister Julia Gillard more than a week ago, that she expected a decision on the payout by the end of last week.

But Ms Giddings was away on leave last week.

It is more than a week since Gunns first sought a share- trading halt, saying that it wanted to see how it would be affected by the intergovernment agreement.

Meanwhile, South Australian newspaper the Border Watch yesterday reported that government-owned Forestry SA had suspended the allocation of softwood logs to Gunns-owned mills at Tarpenna and Kalangadoo.

Neither Forestry SA nor Gunns would confirm the supply suspension.

But the Border Watch said that it understood the suspension was related to the issue of non-payment by Gunns over some time.

Operations at Gunns Bell Bay sawmill were disrupted twice in the past month by supplier Timberlands for similar reasons.