Indonesian timber firm loses concession
Indonesian timber firm loses concession
PHNOM PENH (AFP): The Cambodian government has canceled the largest-single timber concession in the country belonging to a major Indonesian logging company, a report said yesterday.
Micro Panin had its 1.4 million hectare (3.45 million acre) concession terminated on Dec. 31 because it failed to implement its logging plan on schedule, the Cambodia Daily newspaper said citing forestry officials.
"The company asked for delays two times and its extension also expired," the paper quoted forestry chief Or Soeurn as saying.
Micro Panin officials were not available for comment but the firm was known to have complained after signing the deal in 1995 that most of the high-quality trees in its concession area had already been felled.
The controversial concession, which covers huge swaths of land in the remote northeastern provinces of Rattanakiri, Stung Treng and Mondulkiri, is now in the process of being divided up between other companies, the newspaper said.
It added that environmental groups were alarmed at the transfer of the concession noting that the government had yet to address their serious concerns about logging and those expressed by international donors.
Cambodia's logging policy has been under fire for several years with environmentalists warning that if current "anarchic" conditions continue, all of the country's forests will be gone within the decade.
Donors have complained that along with unsustainability of existing logging, revenue from the timber industry is not going into government coffers but rather into the pockets of a handful of corrupt officials and businessmen.
The International Monetary Fund has canceled the remaining installments of a US$120 million loan to the government and closed its office in Phnom Penh citing the government's apparent unwillingness to implement reforms.
In addition, the World Bank has said it will not enter into any new direct support to the government until the IMF program is restored.