Minister denies irregularities in granting forest concessions
Minister denies irregularities in granting forest concessions
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry and Plantations Nur Mahmudi
Ismail dismissed on Thursday allegations 51 forest concessions
awarded by the ministry were tainted by corruption, collusion and
nepotism.
Nur said he reevaluated the 51 concessions awarded by his
predecessor Muslimin Nasution and concluded there was nothing
untoward in the process.
"Our investigation found no administrative malpractice in the
awarding of those concessions," he said during a media
conference.
He added that the investigation focused on the legal basis and
procedures employed in awarding the concessions.
The issue of corruption, collusion and nepotism, known as KKN,
in the awarding of the concessions covering some three million
hectares surfaced following recent allegations of bribery in the
ministry. It was reported that a senior official at the ministry
received Rp 1 billion (US$142,900) to speed up the licensing of a
concession to 90 days from the 200 days normally required.
"The fact is that licensing some of the concessions should not
have taken such a long time because it merely involved renewing
old (licenses) that had expired," he said.
He said he could find no evidence of his staff's involvement
in KKN.
He also emphasized that concessionaires renewing their
licenses should pay royalties and other fees only to the
government.
"Every concessionaire will only be charged $6 per hectare," he
said, adding that if ministry officials imposed other charges it
should be reported to him.
He promised to uphold the law in resolving these recent
allegations. "But so far, I have not heard any complains from
businessmen."
The government recently limited the size of concessions
allowed to one company to a maximum of 100,000 hectares in one
province and 400,000 hectares nationwide.
The ruling was designed to allow local communities, smaller
companies and universities to manage forests responsibly so the
resource would be sustained.
"The regulation should not cause controversy, even though
large concessionaires may feel threatened and insecure about the
future of their forest-based ventures," the minister said.
He asked for a thorough review of applications for new forest
concessions in order to prevent manipulation by businessmen
attempting to set up cooperatives or small enterprises as fronts
to traverse the new ruling. (06)