Forest revenues expected to triple in next five years
Forest revenues expected to triple in next five years
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry hopes to collect Rp 3.8
trillion (US$1.79 billion) in forest royalties and Rp 1.7
trillion in reforestation funds in the coming five years.
Minister of Forestry Djamaloedin Soeryohadikoesoemo said in a
hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) on Wednesday
evening that royalties from forest concessions in the last five
years were only Rp 1.3 trillion ($604 million) and reforestation
funds of Rp 614 million.
Djamaloedin also said that he will take firm measures against
timber firms which violate regulations on reforestation,
concession as well as financial reports.
"It's not a secret that timber companies tend to be
deceitful," he said, adding that out of more than 500 timber
firms operating here, 42 concessionaires have received warnings
from his ministry on violations of regulations.
Concessionaires are required to pay royalties to the
government as well as reforestation funds, that will be used to
finance reforestation.
Djamaloedin, however, said that timber companies have a
tendency to manipulate their financial reports in order to pay
less to the government.
Some have even reported to the ministry that they suffered
losses in spite of big profits, he said.
"How could that be? They're not watching the trees grow in the
forests. They just cut logs from them," he said, adding that some
firms had admitted their wrongdoing after the ministry applied
heavy pressure.
He explained that the target for royalty revenue and
reforestation funds are based on the expectation that 31.4
million cubic meters of logs will be cut annually in the coming
five years.
Reforestation
The Golkar fraction at the House, however, questioned
Djamaloedin about the reforestation funds of Rp 2.8 trillion
currently deposited in banks in the name of the minister.
A Golkar spokeswoman, Nikentari Moesdiono, said that all the
earnings of the government should be administered by the state
treasury.
"We ask the government to close the minister's bank account
and transfer the funds to the state treasury," Nikentari said,
adding that it is standard procedure to let the Minister of
Finance control all state earnings.
The Budgetary Commission of the House recently asked Minister
of Finance Mari'e Mohammad to manage reforestation funds.
Forest concessionaires are required to pay a reforestation
fund of $10 for each cubic meter of timber they cut. This money
will be returned to the concessionaires if they replant their
forests.
Djamaloedin said he has no objection if the funds are managed
by the Minister of Finance.
He explained that as a minister he has to abide by the law and
that the management of the funds is based on the policy of
President Soeharto.
Djamaloedin said his ministry has used part of the money to
restore forests, to campaign for forest preservation, to train
people on forestry management and to finance research.
Djamaloedin also told the House that his ministry is currently
waiting for the results of a joint study by the Bogor Institute
of Agriculture (IPB) and the Association of Indonesian
Accountants on the formulation of standardized timber accounting
reports.
He said that standardization of accounting reports will help
the government monitor violations by timber firms.(09)