Forestry firms 'still need supervision'
Forestry firms 'still need supervision'
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo
has said the ministry should be allowed to continue technical
supervision of state forestry and timber companies despite the
change in the legal basis of state enterprises' operations.
"The Ministry of Forestry is still needed to provide technical
supervision such as how to plant and cut trees, and how to
increase productivity to state timber companies, which the
Ministry of Finance can not provide," Djamaludin said after a
breaking of the fast gathering Friday.
The government issued a set of regulations related to the
operation of state companies last week to speed up the process of
privatization and business efficiency in state enterprises.
According to the new regulations, the supervision of state
companies would be handled by the Ministry of Finance. They were
previously carried out by related ministries.
The regulations also state that related ministries have to
send all documents related to their state companies to the
Minister of Finance before April 17.
Previously, the state companies' oversights were carried out
by the related ministries although the minister of finance is the
companies' nominee shareholder.
Djamaludin suggested the Ministry of Finance, as a nominee
shareholder of the state companies, should focus its supervision
on the companies' finance and management to avoid the companies
being abused by the related ministries.
"The move of companies' oversight is partly to avoid companies
from being burdened with too much work from the related
ministries," he said.
State companies face difficulties in improving their financial
performance due to the financial burden imposed by related
ministries.
Sources said that related ministries often milked state
companies dry in their support of the ministries' programs and in
providing financial support to their senior officials.
Speaking on the impact of the country's monetary crisis,
Djamaludin said that state timber firms would reduce their
felling activities in natural forests due to the crisis which has
sharply reduced the demand for Indonesian wood and wood-related
products overseas.
Djamaludin said state timber firms would continue to cut trees
which grow in areas designated for industrial forests or
plantation areas.
"In this way, our plans to open up more agricultural areas and
timber estates can continue," he said, declining to give further
details about the reduction rate of the felling activities.
He said the ministry has converted 3.4 million hectares of
forest into plantation areas, 2.4 million of which has been
converted into oil palm estates. The remaining one million
hectares will be offered to foreign investors.
According to data from the ministry, the annual working plan
for felling activities by state and private timber companies last
year reached 22.5 million cubic meters, of which only 20 million
cubic meters could be realized.
He said that private firms would have to decide whether or not
to continue felling in natural forests because some of them have
regular markets in Europe and the United States. (gis)