Two plywood companies shut down, more to follow<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Forestry has revoked the licenses of two
\nprivately-owned plywood manufacturers for utilizing illegal logs
\nand violating production capacity limits.<\/p>\n
The ministry is expected to prohibit more forestry-related
\nfirms from operating this year after it completed an inspection
\nof some 44 companies, which are mostly engaged in plywood
\nmanufacturing.<\/p>\n
Minister of Forestry Mohamad Prakosa told reporters on Monday
\nthat the license revocations were part of the ministry's policy
\nto punish dishonest companies, which have long been blamed for
\nthe depletion of the country's natural forests.<\/p>\n
\"We will strictly evaluate and supervise the operations of
\nforestry-related companies. Our teams will check the origin of
\ntheir raw materials, production systems, output, licenses,
\nmachinery, labor conditions and their debts,\" said Prakosa.<\/p>\n
The two companies whose licenses were revoked are plywood
\nproducers PT Wana Rimba Kencana in East Kalimantan and PT Benua
\nIndah in West Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
According to the ministry, Wana Rimba was suspected of using
\nillegal logs for its raw materials while Benua Indah was accused
\nof unilaterally increasing its production capacity without any
\npermission from the Ministry of Forestry.<\/p>\n
Prakosa said the two companies were now being investigated by
\nthe National Police and the Attorney General.<\/p>\n
The two firms were inspected by a new ministry watchdog called
\nthe Revitalization of Forestry Sector Industries Task Force,
\nwhich was established under a ministerial decree issued in
\nNovember last year.<\/p>\n
The main job of the team is to ensure that forestry-related
\nfirms operate in accordance with the law.
\nBy the end of this month, the task force will have inspected
\nanother five forestry sector companies in Kalimantan and Sumatra.<\/p>\n
The country's forestry industry has long been blamed for the
\nrapid acceleration of deforestation as the installed capacity of
\nthe industry had soared to an alarming level of between 60 and 70
\nmillion cubic meters a year.<\/p>\n
Although since the late 1990s economic crisis actual
\nproduction levels have dropped to around 30 million cubic meters
\nper year, this figure was still much higher than the permitted
\nraw materials supply of around 12 million cubic meters per year.<\/p>\n
This incredible discrepancy between supply and demand, which
\ndevours wood much faster than forests can grow, is the main
\nreason behind illegal logging.<\/p>\n
Ruster<\/p>\n
Govt to auction concessions<\/p>\n
The government will auction at least 100,000 hectares of
\nforest concessions formerly controlled by 14 industrial timber
\nplantations, or what are locally known as HTI, whose licenses had
\nbeen revoked by the Ministry of Forestry.<\/p>\n
Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa said the concessions slated to
\nbe auctioned were those located in remote areas and where the
\nforest conditions could no longer be sustained.<\/p>\n
The 14 concessions cover an area of around 1 million hectares,
\nscattered across the provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra, Lampung,
\nEast Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and Central
\nSulawesi.<\/p>\n
Millions of ex-HTI concession areas will likely be auctioned
\nto private firms as the ministry is scheduled to revoke another
\n56 concessions this year. -- JP<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/two-plywood-companies-shut-down-more-to-follow-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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