Forestry minister declares war against illegal levies<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo
\nissued Thursday an instruction to all provincial offices of his
\nministry to fight against illegal levies in the forestry sector.<\/p>\n
In his letter No. 1360\/1997, issued on Wednesday, Djamaludin
\ninstructed provincial forestry offices throughout Indonesia to
\neliminate 14 illegal levies often imposed on forestry businesses.<\/p>\n
\"I have instructed all heads of provincial offices to
\neliminate all illegal levies and charges, which have been
\nresponsible for high costs in the industry,\" he told reporters.<\/p>\n
He said the instruction letter was a follow-up of his
\nstatement early this month that his ministry had found 16 illegal
\nlevies in the forestry sector.<\/p>\n
He revised that number to 14 as two other levies were those
\nunder the jurisdiction of other ministries.<\/p>\n
Most of the 14 illegal levies were imposed by officials from
\nprovincial forestry offices when they made site inspections at
\nvarious forestry firms or when they issued official letters for
\nthose firms.<\/p>\n
Such illegal levies were common to speed up business processes
\nwith the authorities, Djamaludin quoted some forestry companies
\nas saying.<\/p>\n
\"But I want to reiterate here that the Ministry of Forestry
\nshould never impose any levy on timber companies to facilitate
\npermission for their activities,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He stressed that there were only 11 legal levies outside taxes
\nimposed by his ministry, as stipulated by Government Regulation
\nNo. 22\/1997.<\/p>\n
The 11 legal levies include a mandatory forest fee, a
\nconcessions fee, a forest industry fee, a bamboo concession fee,
\na rattan concession fee, a forest tourist fee and fees on tickets
\nfor forest recreation, national parks, forest reservations and
\nmarine recreation parks.<\/p>\n
The other legal levies are fees on catching and delivering
\nunprotected wild animals and flora, on catching protected wild
\nanimals and flora, and fines on violating forest exploitation
\nregulations and on violating forest utilization regulations.<\/p>\n
Djamaludin also urged forestry companies and other players in
\nthe forestry sector to report to his office any illegal levies
\nimposed.<\/p>\n
\"I will not hesitate to punish any forestry official who is
\nguilty of charging illegal levies to forestry companies,\" he
\nsaid. (08)<\/p>",
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