17 extra levies may be removed

17 extra levies may be removed

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said yesterday that at least 17 levies within his ministry may be removed as part of the government's campaign to eliminate excessive levies imposed on businesses.

Sjarifudin said the 17 levies were imposed on the sugar business alone. He implied that there were other unnecessary levies in other agrobusinesses overseen by the ministry.

"We will make a list of those levies and from there we can determine which ones are unnecessary and can thus be removed," he announced after installing new officials at the ministry and state-owned companies.

Sjarifudin said he would meet next week with government officials and executives of state-owned companies in the sugar business to discuss problems they faced.

He acknowledged that there were many unnecessary levies imposed in the implementation of sugar plantation nucleus estates.

"These fees are very harmful and can easily disrupt sugar production," he said.

Sjarifudin yesterday installed Erwin Soetirto as the ministry's new director general of animal husbandry, replacing Soehadji; Asbur as director for plant protection supervision, replacing J. Ekowarso; Wahyudi Sugiyanto as head of the Center for Standardization and Accreditation of the ministry's agribusiness agency, replacing Achmad Suryana.

Sjarifudin also installed M. Sujud as the new president of the state-owned Perum Sang Hyang Seri (SHS) rice seed company, replacing Soemardhi; Endang Syaeful as SHS' director of finance and administration, replacing Susilo Kusumo; Dody Hidayat as SHS' director of production, replacing Z.S. Mawuntu; M. Munawir as SHS' president commissioner; and A. Rifai Husein and Wachjoedi as SHS' commissioners.

Sjarifudin also installed Soetriadji as the new president of the state-owned PT Pertani farming company and P.M. Sudarsono and Soemitro as Pertani's commissioners. (pwn)