Indonesian company seeks huge Cambodian timber deal<\/p>\n
PHNOM PENH (Reuter): Indonesia's Panin Group is negotiating
\nfor a logging concession covering 1.5 million hectares of
\nCambodia's dwindling forests despite a ban on log exports,
\nofficials and diplomats said.<\/p>\n
\"I have not signed the contract...we are just discussing,\"
\nsaid Agriculture Minister Tao Seng Hour. Any deal would be twice
\nas large as the controversial 800,000 hectare concession awarded
\nto Malaysia's Samling Corporation last year.<\/p>\n
The minister refused to say how much land was involved but an
\nIndonesian diplomat with his mission's Economic Department said
\nit covered 1.5 million hectares.<\/p>\n
\"The contract has not been agreed on both sides,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The location of the concession area was not given but it would
\ncovers eight per cent of the total land area of Cambodia and 20
\npercent of the remaining forest cover, according to
\nenvironmentalists.<\/p>\n
The biggest<\/p>\n
It would be the biggest concession awarded by the coalition
\ngovernment in its two-year tenure.<\/p>\n
The negotiations between Panin and the government come amid a
\nban on log exports that was imposed from May 1. Environmentalists
\nand King Norodom Sihanouk have warned that the country could be
\nturned into a wasteland by rampant logging.<\/p>\n
The agriculture minister would not say if other deals were
\nbeing discussed but a report in Phnom Penh Post said companies
\nfrom Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Japan and
\nAustralia had applied for logging licenses.<\/p>\n
\"It is clear that after a brief pause in legal logging
\nfollowing the...ban, millions of hectares of Cambodian forest are
\nbeing earmarked for logging,\" the Post said.<\/p>\n
The government says fresh logging contracts will only go to
\ncompanies that carry out selective cutting, replanting and
\nenvironmental protection.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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