Govt simplifies procedure for logging permits

Govt simplifies procedure for logging permits

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry, in a bid to end
collusion between government officials and private
concessionaires at the local level, has decided to reduce the
number of steps necessary for procuring logging permits from 24
to 11.

A ministry official said yesterday that Minister of Forestry
Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo deemed the simplification as necessary
to guarantee adequate supplies of raw materials to wood-based
industries.

"The minister said the lengthy procedures have caused
concessionaires to take shortcuts and collude with local
administration officials," the official said.

As a result of the lengthy procedures, only 65 of the total
445 concessionaires which submitted logging proposals as of July
have been able to meet 100 percent of the license's requirements.

The 65 concessionaires manage concessions for a total of 5.89
million cubic meters of wood.

Of 445 concessionaires, 248 -- which manage a total of 9.83
million cubic meters of timber -- have been able to meet only 60
percent of the license's requirements. The other 70 have not been
able to meet the regulations at all.

"On one hand, wood-based industrial firms are complaining of a
shortage of raw materials, but on the other, the majority of
concessionaires have only been able to meet 60 percent of the
license's requirements," Djamaludin said. "I am afraid that if
the requirements are not changed, concessionaires may never be
able to meet 100 percent of the requirements."

He said that similar to the previous regulation, the new one
would still require concessionaires to establish village-
supervised concessionaires, grow industrial timber estates for
transmigrants and plant indigenous tree species.

"If they don't abide by these rules, their annual logging
permits will be zero percent," he asserted.

Other requirements to obtain annual logging permits include
the payment of all mandatory forest contributions, such as
reforestation fees and forest royalties.

Djamaludin said the new regulation would give concessionaires
greater authority to cut back on the supervisory role of forestry
offices at the local level.

He cited that in timber-cruising, which involves the counting
of trees before their felling, and in conducting the Indonesian
planting and selective cutting method, as regulated by the
government to ensure forest sustainability, government approval
would be unnecessary.

The validity of such procedures, Djamaludin said, would be
determined by a company's production director or -- in the case
of a company which is partly state-owned -- by a company's
director representing the government's interest.

Previously, the procedures had to gain the approval of local
forestry offices before annual logging permits could be issued.

"Such a process often took time. In fact, local forestry
offices often delayed it deliberately, so in the end, the company
would bargain by giving a certain sum of money to gain the
approval," Djamaludin said.

To prevent such cases, he said, ground-checks should be done
after a proposal is submitted. If the contents do not match, the
company's director can be sued. (pwn)