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)