Govt to issue guidelines on confiscated wood

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tandjung said in a hearing yesterday with the House of Representatives' Commission V that the government will issue technical instructions on the use of wood confiscated from illegal logging.

"The instructions are being prepared by a technical team under the coordination of the office of the State Minister of Public Housing," Tandjung said.

He added that the instructions will be issued in the near future.

The minister told the commission, which is in charge of housing, public works and transportation, that the instructions will, among others, let the use of the confiscated wood for the construction of low-cost and medium-cost public housing.

"The instructions will help us fulfill the government's target on the construction of 500,000 houses during the current Sixth Five Year Development Plan period," he added.

The low-cost and medium-cost houses to be built with the confiscated wood will measure between 21 square meters and 36 square meters on land areas of between 54 square meters and 200 square meters.

"According to President Soeharto's guideline, the wood, confiscated from illegal logging, should be used to increase the ability of low-income people to buy good houses," Tandjung said, adding that it is expected to reduce the price of the houses.

A joint ministerial decree was signed recently by Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo, State Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tandjung, Attorney General Singgih, Police Chief General Banurusman and Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad to allow the use of confiscated wood and to give low-income people an opportunity to purchase good-quality houses at affordable prices.

The confiscated wood, which will be rendered free to the State Housing Company, will not be subject to reforestation fees or forest royalties, which can reach up to a total of Rp 50,000 per cubic meter of equivalent logged wood. The company only has to pay for transportation, storage and preservation expenses.

"In some places, the wood confiscated from illegal logging has already been prepared, but we have to wait because there are no further instructions to use them," Tandjung said.

So far, the total volume of stolen logs, over the past year, reached seven million cubic meters, worth about Rp 225 billion (US$100.2 million).

Tandjung explained that the prepared instructions will also state that not all types of wood, however, will be subject to the plan.

The regulation will mostly affect wood obtained from bayur (pterospermum spp.), eucalyptus, kenanga (cananga odorata), keruing (dipterocarpus spp.) and merbau (instia spp.) trees, but confiscated teakwood, meranti (shorea sp.) and a number of other types of first-class wood will still be auctioned. (31)