Forestry ministry rejects request to transfer funds
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry and Plantations has turned down the request from the Ministry of Finance to transfer the Rp 1.1 trillion (about US$78.57 million) in forestry funds raised before March 31 this year to the state treasury.
The ministry's Secretary General Oetomo S. said the transfer of the money to the state treasury would drain all his office's financial resources to finance the ongoing reforestation program.
According to the initial agreement, he said, the reforestation funds that must be kept at the treasury office would be limited to those raised after April 1 in order to comply with the government's decision to include the funds in the state budget.
"If we have to transfer all the reforestation funds we received, how can we finance our projects? The government would have to find other sources to finance the projects. Besides, they can not guarantee that the funds in the state treasury will be returned to the forests," Oetomo told journalists.
He said the funds and the interest collected by the ministry before April 1 have been allocated to finance the development of timber estates and the ministry's reforestation and land rehabilitation programs until the year 2000.
This amounted to around Rp 1.1 trillion, consisting of Rp 927.6 billion of reforestation funds and Rp 147.4 billion of interest. This money is kept in the Ministry of Forestry's accounts in several state banks.
Oetomo said that the finance minister's request conflicted with that received from the state secretary, in which the transfer of the reforestation funds to the state secretary is limited only to those raised after March 31, the closing date of the fiscal year.
He said the reforestation funds collected by his office from April 1 until mid June amounted to over Rp 300 billion.
The reforestation fund is a mandatory fee imposed by the government on forest concessionaires to ensure that forests are managed in an environmentally sustainable manner. The size of the fees depends on the volume and type of timber felled.
Starting April 1, the reforestation funds are accounted for in the state budget as non-tax receipts. Previously, the funds were transferred into the Ministry of Forestry's accounts. The allocation and use of the funds were governed by presidential decree.
Meanwhile, Minister of Forestry and Plantations Muslimin Nasution said separately yesterday that the ministry has secured Rp 330 billion in reforestation funds allocated for PT Kiani Lestari and urea pill fertilizer producer PT Ario Seto Wijoyo.
He said that the ministry has taken back the Rp 250 billion fund allocated for PT Kiani Lestari -- a company owned by Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, a long-time crony of former President Soeharto -- for its pulp and paper factory in East Kalimantan.
Muslimin said that the ministry has also secured Rp 80 billion funds allocated for PT Ario Seto.
Former president Soeharto, during his tenure in power, issued several decrees ordering the Minister of Forestry to allocate reforestation funds to various projects run by his family members and cronies which were not related to forest development. (gis)