Perhutani takes over Yamaker's forest areas

JAKARTA (JP): Perum Perhutani president A. Fattah DS confirmed on Wednesday the government appointed the state forestry company to take over the management of over one million hectares of forests formerly owned by PT Yayasan Maju Kerja (Yamaker).

Fattah said Perhutani would allocate some Rp 78 billion (about US$9l75 million) in initial investment to carry out logging operations in the forests along the Indonesia-Malaysia border in Kalimantan.

"We are ready to manage the forest areas. We have prepared Rp 78 billion in funds for initial operations," he said.

Fattah said the government's new regulation limiting the ownership of forest concession areas would not pose a problem for Perhutani in taking over the forests.

He said that unlike other state forestry companies, Perhutani carried the government's special mission of empowering people living near the forests and promoting reforestation programs and was therefore exempt from the ruling.

Fattah said other state timber companies, including PT Inhutani I to V, should, like private timber companies, abide by the regulation which limits the ownership of forest concessions to a maximum of 100,000 hectares in a province.

Earlier this year, President B.J. Habibie revoked Presidential Decree No. 44/1994, which gave logging rights in the "security belt" along the border of East and West Kalimantan to Yamaker, owned by a foundation linked to the Ministry of Defense and Security.

The company's logging contracts, which cover over 834,500 hectares of forests in West Kalimantan and 224,000 hectares in East Kalimantan, were revoked earlier this month.

Minister of Forestry and Plantations Muslimin Nasution said Yamaker's logging rights were revoked because the company did not take its responsibility to develop the forests seriously, and allowed its concession areas to be degraded through rampant timber theft.

He also said Yamaker allegedly cooperated with several Malaysian companies to smuggle logs from Indonesian forests in Kalimantan to neighboring Malaysia.

The ministry's investigations, he said, indicated that more than 100,000 cubic meters of logs were smuggled out of Kalimantan into Malaysia through Yamaker's logging area from July to October 1998, causing a loss of Rp 134 billion to the country.

Muslimin said his office's investigation indicated the company smuggled between 100 cubic meters and 300 cubic meters of logs per day from the company's concession areas since it began operating in 1992.

Muslimin said the contract originally was given to Yamaker because the forests were considered a security zone, so "it was thought better if the area was managed by an Armed Forces-linked timber firm".

"Our decision shows that the government will not hesitate to revoke licenses or contracts of disobedient companies no matter who owns the companies," Muslimin said.

Yamaker's executives were not available for comment on Wednesday.

Fattah said most of Yamaker's concession areas in West Kalimantan had been exploited, while the concession areas in East Kalimantan still contained virgin forests.

The productive area of Yamaker's West Kalimantan forest concession is only 84,450 hectares out of 843,000 hectares, he said.

The East Kalimantan concession areas still contain 129,043 hectares of virgin forests, he said.

Fattah said his company would cooperate with the Tanjungpura Military Command overseeing Kalimantan on security along the Indonesia-Malaysia border. (gis)