Govt to revoke another timber concessions
Govt to revoke another timber concessions
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Ministry of Forestry plans to revoke the operating licenses
of 13 industrial timber plantation companies for failing to
comply with sustainable production requirements.
Spokesman of the ministry Koes Saparjadi told The Jakarta Post
on Wednesday that the move was part of the ministry's policy to
restructure the country's industrial timber plantation
concessionaires into an efficient and effective timber source.
"Currently, we are in the final stages of completing the
revocation on the 13 companies. Hopefully, we can publish the
results at the end of this month," said Koes, who refused to name
the concessionaires.
The ministry took similar action against 14 companies in the
middle of last month, creating resentment among industry players.
A week after the decision, 13 concessionaires took their cases
to the Jakarta Administrative Court for settlement.
The ministry was greatly disappointed after the court
suspended the ministry's move, accepting the pleas of 11
concessionaires.
However, Koes said that the court's ruling had yet to be
finalized and litigation could still be on the way.
He added that the ministry would not be discouraged over the
court's ruling in punishing bad concessionaires.
The proposed 13 concessionaires, whose licenses will be
revoked, have been awarded concessions covering a total area of
some 900,000 hectares.
Meanwhile, spokesman for the Association of Indonesian Forest
Concessionaires (APHI), who also heads the advocacy division at
the association, Riza Suarga, voiced criticism of the ministry's
move.
Riza said that the ministry's decision was biased because
there were still a lot of bad concessionaires that deserved to be
punished severely.
"Minister Prakosa seems to have been misled by a report. He
should check the actual situation regarding concessionaires in
the field to get an accurate picture," said Riza, referring to
Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa.
The assessment to determine whether concessionaires should
continue operating was based only on a self-assessment report
submitted by each concessionaire. The reports cover the
companies' operational and financial position.
The reports were then assessed by a special team under the
directorate general of forest production development at the
Ministry of Forestry.
Riza feared that the ruling would result in massive layoffs in
the forestry industry. It was estimated that the ruling would
cause about 28,000 people to lose their jobs, in both the
downstream and upstream parts of the industry.