SEA Games consortium urged to return reforestation funds
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)