Count forestry funds in state budget: DPR

Count forestry funds in state budget: DPR

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives urged yesterday
that reforestation funds be counted in the state budget as
government revenues, to ensure the accountability of the funds.

Johny Alwi Banyo of the House's Budgetary Commission said the
government has actually agreed to gradually include the funds
into the state budget.

"But the government has not yet included the reforestation
funds into the draft budget for 1995-96 fiscal year," Johny said
in the House's plenary session here.

The Ministry of Forestry, which retains the management of
reforestation funds, announced earlier this month that it had
transferred Rp 596 billion (US$270.9 million) of its
reforestation funds to the Ministry of Finance as contingency
state budget reserves.

Official figures recently showed that over the past five
years, Rp 3.04 trillion (US$1.38 billion) in reforestation funds
had been collected from forest concessionaires.

The funds, whose amount depends on the species and quality of
harvested logs, are designed to finance reforestation programs.

However, forest concessionaires who harvest their forests
according to the government-mandated sustainable management
rulings are supposedly entitled to get back the funds they have
paid to the forestry ministry if they reforest their concession
areas by themselves.

Last year, the forestry ministry, by virtue of a presidential
decree, transferred approximately $185 million of interest
accrued on the funds to the state-owned IPTN aircraft company in
Bandung, West Java as an interest-free loan.

The House also called on the government yesterday to improve
the efficiency of state-run companies, which it said are still
below par, in a bid to increase the state's non-tax revenues.

In its 1995-1996 draft budget, the government expects Rp 6.49
trillion from non-tax revenues, of which Rp 1.69 trillion is
projected from profit dividends of state companies.

"That amount (Rp 1.69 trillion) is too low because it accounts
only 0.7 percent of state companies' total assets of Rp 230
trillion. It indicates that the managements of most state
companies still need further improvement," Johny said. (rid)