Provinces to get 90% of reforestation funds

Provinces to get 90% of reforestation funds

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Forestry Marzuki Usman said on
Thursday that 90 percent of reforestation funds raised from
timber companies would be given to regional administrations in a
bid to improve land rehabilitation programs in the provinces.

The minister said in Balikpapan that 70 percent of the
reforestation funds would be channeled to regencies and the other
20 percent to provinces.

The combined amount of reforestation funds to be channeled to
each province would account for 90 percent of the total
reforestation funds raised in the area, he said.

Marzuki said distribution of reforestation funds would be
stipulated in a regulation which is now awaiting approval from
the President.

"Let's hope that the regulation will be approved, so that the
central government only gets 10 percent," he was quoted as saying
by Antara news agency.

He was speaking during a meeting on overcoming forest fires
held in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.

Marzuki said he hoped that with the regions getting the lion's
share of the reforestation funds, management and rehabilitation
of their forests as well as regional development could be
accelerated.

At the meeting, the forestry minister pointed out that the
businesses must first hand over their reforestation funds before
receiving a concession.

In past experience, many businesses did not pay their
reforestation funds. "No wonder many reforestation projects
failed due to a lack of funds," he said.

Several regents in East Kalimantan hailed the new
reforestation policy and hoped the new split could be realized as
soon as possible.

"The life of people living near the forests has become so
deplorable, that the increase in reforestation funds would enable
the regions to rehabilitate their forests and raise the income of
locals," Bulungan Regent Anang Dachlan Jauhari said.

People in Bulungan regency, he said, were not able to reap any
benefits from the nearby forests, as almost all of its resources
had been exploited by concessionaires, and even state forestry
companies, as most forests were under their control.