Provinces allowed to issue forest concession permits
Provinces allowed to issue forest concession permits
JAKARTA (JP): In line with regional autonomy legislation, the
Ministry of Forestry has relinquished some of its authority
regarding the authorization of new forest concession permits, to
provincial administrations.
According to a ministerial decree dated Nov. 6, 2000, the
provincial administration is permitted to issue a forest
concession permit covering an area of up to 100,000 hectares.
"In addition, the regency government is allowed to issue a
forest concession permit for an area of up to 50,000 hectares,"
Deddy Ruchjadi, the expert staff assistant of Minister for
Forestry Nurmahmudi Ismail, said here on Wednesday.
The new regulation has been effective since the date of its
issuance. He said that the new ruling would be applied only to
forest concessions.
In cases where the area of 50,000 hectares straddles two
regencies, the rights to issue the concession permit is given to
the provincial government, Deddy said.
Deddy added that the central government would control the
issuance of any forest concession permit if the 100,000 hectares
of forest straddles two provinces.
Under the new policy, each concession should not exceed
100,000 hectares.
Deddy explained that the licensing authority handed over to
the provincial administrations did not include the payment of
royalties or other financial fees from forest concession holders.
"The royalty payment is still regulated by the Ministry of
Finance," he told The Jakarta Post.
Under the intergovernmental fiscal balance law, the provincial
administration receives 80 percent of royalties from the
forestry, fishery and mining sectors.
Deddy said that the central government will still control
forest conservation areas despite the transfer of a majority of
forest management powers to the regional administrations.
The Ministry of Forestry has issued 36 ministerial decrees and
eight government regulations as guidelines for the provincial
administration to manage their forests. (03)