Concessionaires auditors get Rp 148b
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Independent consultants assigned by the Ministry of Forestry to audit logging concessionaires will start operations next week as the Ministry of Finance has disbursed Rp 148 billion (US$16 million) in funds for their work.
"The 12 forest auditors will start working on Tuesday after signing contracts of work with us on Monday. They have already been informed of the name of the companies they will audit, drawn from a lottery," said Lumisu Mangiwa, director of forest exploitation planning at the Ministry of Forestry.
The Ministry of Forestry asked the Ministry of Finance to disburse the funds in September this year, but the latter met the request only a week ago.
The late disbursement has forced dozens of concessionaires, whose licenses have expired, to suspend operations for months, because an audit report from the independent forest auditors was required in order to extend their licenses.
The Ministry of Forestry has selected 12 consultants, named by the ministry as the "independent verification institute" (LPI), to help the ministry determine whether logging concessionaires have applied sustainable approaches to their operations.
Based on the results of the assessment by the auditors, the government will decide whether to revoke the concessionaires' licenses or allow them to continue their operations.
The Ministry of Forestry has produced a schedule for the audits.
For the first period, from Oct. 28 to Dec. 31, there are 27 concessionaires to be audited.
From Dec. 31 to March 15, 2003, another 52 will be audited, to be followed by audits on another 37 from March 15 to May 5.
By the end of 2003, 296 concessionaires of the country's total 412 logging companies are expected to have been audited.
Each auditor will be paid Rp 300 million, to cover the fees and operating costs to audit one concessionaire. Each auditor is expected to audit two to three concessionaires per month.
There are 412 logging companies operating on around 37 million hectares of forest area. The total area is roughly three times that of Java Island.