Official fees seen as burden to industry<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Industries in East Kalimantan currently have to
\npay at least 24 official fees, including taxes, imposed by the
\ncentral and local administrations.<\/p>\n
The Antara news agency yesterday quoted an anonymous source in
\nSamarinda as saying that the fees and levies varied in amount,
\n\"but when totaled in a period of months or years could reach
\nmillions of rupiahs\".<\/p>\n
The source said that businessmen in East Kalimantan have
\nalready filed both unofficial and official complaints to the
\ncentral and local administrations because the fees had become
\nextremely burdensome.<\/p>\n
An example of such a fee, the source said, was the 10 percent
\nvalue-added tax imposed on logs. The tax caused the Association
\nof Indonesian Wood Panel Producers (Apkindo) to file an official
\nprotest, claiming they were already burdened by other mandatory
\npayments, such as reforestation funds and forest royalties.<\/p>\n
Another fee which sparked complaints was one that was recently
\nimposed by the Ministry of Manpower for safety and health control
\nat factory machineries.<\/p>\n
\"In the beginning, the fees were only imposed on boilers and
\nother important plant equipment. Now they cover all types of
\nmachinery, with amounts varying according to the capacity of the
\nmachines,\" the source said.<\/p>\n
Last month, similar complaints were issued by plantation
\ncompanies, who said official fees were so burdensome that they
\nhad become a major barrier to the development of agribusiness
\ncompanies.<\/p>\n
According to Antara, the head of the Ministry of Industry and
\nTrade's East Kalimantan office, Himanuddin Nasution, has
\nconfirmed the complaints, saying that his office has already
\ninformed the Ministry's head office in Jakarta of the situation
\nand asked for a review.<\/p>\n
Nasution said the Minister of Industry and Trade recently
\nordered all heads of local offices to monitor the fees imposed on
\nindustries, to be used as an input to formulate the next
\nderegulatory package.<\/p>\n
The government lastly issued a deregulatory package last May,
\nwhich promised tariff reductions across the board until the year
\n2003, setting maximum rates on most goods at between five and ten
\npercent down from 40 percent.<\/p>\n
The package also accelerated plans to eliminate tariff
\nsurcharges in 153 categories.<\/p>\n
Nasution said the fees imposed on industries should be
\nreviewed because they could erode the competitiveness of
\nIndonesian industrial products.<\/p>\n
Nasution, who took up his post four months ago, said his
\noffice was closely monitoring illegal fees imposed by certain
\nofficials on industries, but admitted he had yet to find strong
\nevidence of such practices.<\/p>\n
Presently there are about 12,500 industries in Kalimantan, of
\nwhich 12,000 are categorized as small industries. The industries
\nhave a total investment of Rp 4 trillion (US$1.75 billion) and
\nemploy some 106,000 workers.<\/p>\n
Until the end of 1995, the industrial sector contributed the
\nsingle largest share, or almost 24 percent, of East Kalimantan's
\nGross Regional Domestic Product, Nasution said. (pwn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/official-fees-seen-as-burden-to-industry-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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