SEA Games consortium urged to return reforestation funds

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry and Plantations has asked the consortium of financiers for the 19th Southeast Asian Games to return the Rp 35 billion (US$2.5 million) it borrowed from interest earned on the country's reforestation funds.

The ministry's secretary-general, Oetomo, said the order to channel the funds to the consortium to finance the Games came directly from the state secretary through a presidential decree.

"There were no ministerial decrees regulating loans from the reforestation funds and interest. The loans given to projects were based on presidential decrees," Oetomo said.

The consortium, the fund-raising body for the biennial event held in Jakarta last year, reported earlier this year that it suffered a Rp 68.1 billion loss.

The consortium, chaired by ex-president Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, raised a large part of the funds through the sale of stickers to customers of public utilities, airplane passengers and car owners renewing driver's licenses or extending vehicle registration documents.

It earned Rp 87.9 billion and spent Rp 156 billion, far above the estimated budget of Rp 75 billion.

Oetomo said the ministry would try its best to reclaim all the funds used for nonforestry projects and return it to the forests.

Reforestation funds are collected as mandatory fees imposed by the government on forest concessionaires to ensure that forests are managed in an environmentally sustainable manner. The size of a fee depends on the volume and type of timber felled.

Starting April 1, reforestation funds are accounted for in the state budget as nontax receipts. Previously, the funds were transferred into the Ministry of Forestry's accounts. The allocation and use of the funds were governed by presidential decree.

Oetomo added that the ministry had agreed to transfer the reforestation funds collected by the ministry from April 1 until by the end of June, which amount to Rp 325 billion, to the state treasury.

Last month, the Ministry of Finance asked the ministry to transfer the Rp 1.1 trillion reforestation funds, which includes money raised before March 31 this year, to the state treasury.

Oetomo turned down the request, saying it would drain all his office's financial resources to finance the ongoing reforestation program.

He said the two sides had negotiated and came up with a decision that the ministry would only be required to transfer funds collected after April 1, 1998 to the state treasury.

"The Ministry of Finance has pledged that the funds will still be used to finance our projects and will be returned to the forests," he said. (gis)