Forestry firms 'still need supervision'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo
\nhas said the ministry should be allowed to continue technical
\nsupervision of state forestry and timber companies despite the
\nchange in the legal basis of state enterprises' operations.<\/p>\n
\"The Ministry of Forestry is still needed to provide technical
\nsupervision such as how to plant and cut trees, and how to
\nincrease productivity to state timber companies, which the
\nMinistry of Finance can not provide,\" Djamaludin said after a
\nbreaking of the fast gathering Friday.<\/p>\n
The government issued a set of regulations related to the
\noperation of state companies last week to speed up the process of
\nprivatization and business efficiency in state enterprises.<\/p>\n
According to the new regulations, the supervision of state
\ncompanies would be handled by the Ministry of Finance. They were
\npreviously carried out by related ministries.<\/p>\n
The regulations also state that related ministries have to
\nsend all documents related to their state companies to the
\nMinister of Finance before April 17.<\/p>\n
Previously, the state companies' oversights were carried out
\nby the related ministries although the minister of finance is the
\ncompanies' nominee shareholder.<\/p>\n
Djamaludin suggested the Ministry of Finance, as a nominee
\nshareholder of the state companies, should focus its supervision
\non the companies' finance and management to avoid the companies
\nbeing abused by the related ministries.<\/p>\n
\"The move of companies' oversight is partly to avoid companies
\nfrom being burdened with too much work from the related
\nministries,\" he said.<\/p>\n
State companies face difficulties in improving their financial
\nperformance due to the financial burden imposed by related
\nministries.<\/p>\n
Sources said that related ministries often milked state
\ncompanies dry in their support of the ministries' programs and in
\nproviding financial support to their senior officials.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the impact of the country's monetary crisis,
\nDjamaludin said that state timber firms would reduce their
\nfelling activities in natural forests due to the crisis which has
\nsharply reduced the demand for Indonesian wood and wood-related
\nproducts overseas.<\/p>\n
Djamaludin said state timber firms would continue to cut trees
\nwhich grow in areas designated for industrial forests or
\nplantation areas.<\/p>\n
\"In this way, our plans to open up more agricultural areas and
\ntimber estates can continue,\" he said, declining to give further
\ndetails about the reduction rate of the felling activities.<\/p>\n
He said the ministry has converted 3.4 million hectares of
\nforest into plantation areas, 2.4 million of which has been
\nconverted into oil palm estates. The remaining one million
\nhectares will be offered to foreign investors.<\/p>\n
According to data from the ministry, the annual working plan
\nfor felling activities by state and private timber companies last
\nyear reached 22.5 million cubic meters, of which only 20 million
\ncubic meters could be realized.<\/p>\n
He said that private firms would have to decide whether or not
\nto continue felling in natural forests because some of them have
\nregular markets in Europe and the United States. (gis)<\/p>",
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