RI's wood industry needs 20,000 skilled workers

RI's wood industry needs 20,000 skilled workers

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's wood industry needs almost 20,000
technically skilled workers in the coming six years, timber
tycoon Mohammad (Bob) Hasan said yesterday.

He said at the singing ceremony of the cooperation agreement
between his Kalimanis Group and PT Mutuagung Lestari, that there
are currently about 5,300 skilled workers toiling in forest
concessionaires across the archipelago.

Bambang Guritno of the Center for Forestry Training and
Education of the Ministry of Forestry noted that a large number
of skilled workers who graduated from high schools are still
badly needed in the wood industry.

"We cannot produce such workers in such big numbers because
there are only five forestry high schools all over the country,"
Bambang said, adding that the five schools produce only forest
rangers who are mostly employed by the ministry.

To cope with the problem, Bambang said, his ministry will
coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Culture to produce
more skilled forestry workers.

When asked about the forestry workers who graduated from
universities, Bambang said "we have enough stock" because many
universities have forestry faculties.

Achmad Sumitro, dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the
Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, told The Jakarta Post
yesterday that many university graduates are now seeking jobs
with forest concessionaires.

"They are now looking for job opportunities at forest
concessionaires since they can no longer rely on the government
to employ them," Sumitro said.

Yesterday's agreement assigned Mutuagung Lestari, a surveyor
of wood products, to conduct on-the-job and in-house training for
some 500 new employees of the Kalimanis Group.

"An additional 24,540 forestry technical workers are expected
to help increase the competitive edge of the country's wood
products, especially when the eco-labeling of tropical wood comes
into effect in the year 2000," Hasan said. (rid)