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)