Mondatory reforestation fees ruling reviewed

Mondatory reforestation fees ruling reviewed

JAKARTA (JP): Mandatory reforestation fees and forest
royalties must now be paid by forest concessionaires unless the
concessionaires are integrated with wood-processing plants,
Forestry Minister Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo says.

However, forest concessionaires integrated with wood-
processing factories will still be allowed to process and pay the
mandatory fees on a self-assessment basis, Djamaludin said,
quoting Ministerial Decree No. 358 and 359/1996.

The decree has been in effect since July 8.

"A five-year evaluation has shown that the previous regulation
-- Ministerial Decrees No. 271 and 272/1993, which allowed all
wood-processing firms to self-process and self-assess their
mandatory payments -- was severely violated by the firms," he
said.

Djamaludin said the evaluation also shows that the
technicalities of the previous regulations lacked detail,
contained many loopholes and, at the same time, the government
could not maintain a sound level of supervision and control.

Advantage

Many wood-processing firms which were not integrated with
forest concessionaires took advantage of the situation by failing
to pay the fees on time, Djamaludin said.

He said that during the January-May period of 1995, for
example, the total amount of unpaid forest royalties and
reforestation fees was Rp 29.7 billion (US$12.91 million), which
reached Rp 33.5 billion for the corresponding period of this
year.

Djamaludin said this amount accounted for 3 percent of the
government's total earnings from the mandatory fees, which reach
Rp 1.2 trillion a year on average.

He said the government will soon issue and publicize a list of
wood-processing firms which are allowed to conduct self-
assessments.

However, he said, companies that are not integrated with
forest concessionaires but are capable of paying their fees
responsibly may also be included on the list.

The list will be evaluated on a yearly basis, during which
time negligent companies may be dropped and responsible ones
added. (pwn)