Twelve forest concessionaires fined US$6.8m<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The twelve forest concessionaires that failed to
\npay mandatory forest royalties and reforestation fees last year
\nwill be required to pay a total of US$6.8 million in fines, a
\ngovernment official says.<\/p>\n
Director General of Forest Utilization Titus Sarijanto said on
\nThursday that Rp 12.8 billion (US$5.7 million) of the fines will
\ngo to forest royalties and $1.1 to reforestation funds.<\/p>\n
Titus was quoted by Antara as saying that the number of
\nnegligent concessionaires last year, which operate in nine
\nprovinces, is twice that of 1993.<\/p>\n
Six other companies, he said, were also found to have acquired
\nillegally-cut timber.<\/p>\n
The news agency, identifying the companies only by their
\ninitials, said the 12 negligent companies include PT JM in
\nMaluku, PT ST in Jambi, PT BR in West Kalimantan, PT SM and PT TY
\nin East Kalimantan, PT SR in West Java, PT KT in East Java, PT DS
\nand PT AB in South Kalimantan and PT MM and PT KG in Central
\nKalimantan.<\/p>\n
According to government regulations aimed at maintaining
\nforest sustainability, forest concessionaires must contribute
\nreforestation fees, which currently range between $10.50 and $20
\nper cubic meter, and pay forest royalties, which reach up to Rp
\n255,000 per ton depending on the type of wood.<\/p>\n
Titus said that \"most of the companies\" have already paid
\ntheir fines, but declined to mention their names.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the six companies that acquired illegally-cut
\ntimber and also failed to pay the forest fees, he said, include
\nPT BI and PT BR in West Kalimantan and PT IK in Riau.<\/p>\n
In 1993, the six companies had to pay a total of Rp 3.3
\nbillion in fines for the illegal wood, plus Rp 821.3 million in
\nmandatory forest royalties and $825,000 in reforestation fees.<\/p>\n
Titus said all the companies have already paid their duties
\nfor that year.<\/p>\n
He explained that these companies violated regulations by
\naccepting timber which was not equipped with the necessary
\nlogging documents, or they deliberately filled in the documents
\nwith incorrect data.<\/p>\n
The companies, he said, may have also received more logs than
\nthey needed for their timber industry, which can be calculated by
\ncomparing their total production with the total number of logs
\ndeclared by the companies.<\/p>\n
They may have also neglected to pay their reforestation funds
\nand forest royalties on time, Titus added.<\/p>\n
He said that his office would continue to punish negligent
\nconcessionaires and would give \"special attention\" to those which
\nfrequently violated government regulations. (pwn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/twelve-forest-concessionaires-fined-us68m-1447893297",
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