Govt to revoke licenses of bad forest concessionaires

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government will soon revoke the licenses of more than a dozen forest concession companies that have failed to sustain their operations.

Minister of Forestry Mohamad Prakosa said on Friday a preliminary audit by an independent team showed that more than 50 percent of the 27 companies being audited failed to meet the requirements for sustainable operations of their natural forest estates.

"Most of these concessionaires will be forced to stop operations," Prakosa said.

The audits are being carried out by the Independent Verification Institute (LPI).

Prakosa refused to provide further details saying that the auditor had yet to finish its report.

The decision by the Ministry of Forestry to revoke the licenses of bad concessionaires is part of an overall effort to restructure the country's natural forests, which are threatened by illegal logging and the overexploitation of the forest by some companies.

The Ministry of Forestry has selected 12 independent auditors to help the ministry determine whether logging concessionaires are taking a sustainable approach to their operations.

Based on the results of the assessment by the auditors, the government will decide whether to revoke the concessionaires' licenses or allow them to continue their operations.

The Ministry of Forestry has produced a schedule for the audit. For the first period, from Oct. 28 to Dec. 31, there are 27 concessionaires being audited.

From Dec. 31 to March 15, 2003, another 52 will be audited, to be followed by the audit of another 37 from March 15 to May 5.

By the end of 2003, 296 concessionaires out of a total of 412 logging companies are expected to have been audited.

In November, the ministry took firm action against concessionaires engaged in managing industrial timber plantations, known as "HTI" concessionaires.

The ministry revoked the licenses of 15 HTI concessionaires for failing to develop a sustainable approach for their operations.

The ministry is expected to announce the revocation of another 13 HTI licenses.