Govt to stop issuing forest permits

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry will stop issuing new licenses to exploit forests next year, except for forests in Irian Jaya and East Timor, the ministry's secretary-general Oetomo said yesterday.

Oetomo said the ministry would refuse all applications for new concessions except for those wanting to operate in the two provinces.

"There will be no new timber estates except in Irian Jaya and East Timor," he said.

Oetomo said Irian Jaya was potentially a good area to develop a timber industry because it had a vast tracts of forest.

But he said investors were hesitant about investing money there because they considered the province unstable.

He said some timber investors believed that Irian Jaya's logs were too small in diameter to be economically viable.

"But if the logs were truly uneconomical investors could develop timber estates to supply pulp industries," he said.

He said that several investors had proposed to develop timber estates in the two provinces.

"We haven't set any limit on the number of timber companies (allowed) to operate in the two provinces," he said, adding that the ministry was still studying the applications.

But he declined to give details on when the licenses would be issued.

He said the ministry also had been studying the possibility of developing timber industries, such as pulp and plywood in Irian Jaya.

"We are looking into whether Irian Jaya's forests are capable of fulfilling the demands of new timber-related industries," he said. (gis)