Ministry revoked 86 timber permits over last 10 years
Ministry revoked 86 timber permits over last 10 years
JAKARTA (JP): The government revoked logging contracts of at
least 86 companies from 1988/1989 until April this year for
contravening forestry regulations, a top official of the Ministry
of Forestry and Plantations said on Thursday.
Director General of Forest Utilization Harnanto H.
Martosiswojo said the contracts covered more than 5 million
hectares.
Many timber companies are still violating forestry regulations
despite stricter governmental supervision, he said, adding that
firms guilty of minor offenses received penalties either in the
form of a reduced production quota or fines.
"As of September of this 1998/1999 fiscal year (beginning in
April), at least 10 timber companies were found to be violating
regulations. They were fined Rp 2.75 billion," he told a hearing
with Commission III of the House of Representatives.
Harnanto said that in the previous fiscal year, 27 timber
companies were found guilty of violations and were fined a total
of Rp 15.20 billion.
Offenses included the cutting of trees outside designated
concession areas, exceeding production quotas, building new roads
without permits and the felling of mature seeding trees which are
the vital genetic foundation of the forest.
Harnanto said 120 other companies had their timber quota
slashed to 60 percent due to their poor records.
He said companies must meet several requirements for their
logging quota to remain in effect.
"If the timber companies fail to meet one of the requirements,
their logging quota will be reduced," he said.
Legislators urged the ministry to be tougher in clamping down
on violators by also suing them for breaching the regulations and
the civil code.
They said penalties of revoking contracts and imposing a lower
production quota had failed to deter forest concessionaires from
destroying forests and the environment.
"When their concessions permits are revoked, it is the
government which in fact suffers the losses because it has to
manage the damaged forests, while the concessionaires have, in a
way, benefited from the forests," legislator Erham Amin of the
ruling Golkar faction said.
The revocation of logging contracts is based on Governmental
Regulation No. 21/1970, which states the forestry ministry will
revoke concessionaires' contracts if they continue to violate
regulations after the issuance of three warnings from the
government.
According to Harnanto, at least 421 private timber companies
currently work on 51.5 million hectares of the country's forests.
The six state forestry companies -- the five PT Inhutani
enterprises and Perum Perhutani -- oversee logging operations on
4.9 million hectares. (gis)