Concessionaires warned

Concessionaires warned

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo
threatened yesterday not only to revoke the licenses of forest
concessionaires which violated environmental protection
regulations but also to sue them for breaching the regulations
and the civil code.

Djamaludin said that license revocation alone had failed to
deter forest concessionaires from destroying forests and the
environment.

"When their concessions are revoked, it is the government
which in fact suffers the losses because it has to manage the
damaged forests, while the concessionaires have, in a way,
benefited from the forests," he said.

Djamaludin said the reluctance of his ministry to use the
environmental law to sue offending concessionaires was because it
was doubtful whether the Ministry of Forestry or the office of
the State Minister of Environment was entitled to sue
concessionaires on behalf of the government.

The revocation of concessionaires' licenses is based on
Governmental Regulation No. 21/1970, which says the Ministry of
Forestry will revoke concessionaires' licenses if they continue
to violate regulations after three warnings from the ministry.
(jsk)