State firms will take over forest concessionaires

JAKARTA (JP): The government has confirmed that 60 of the 90 private forest concessions which end later this year will not be renewed because of poor management.

Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said on Friday the management of the 60 concessions would be handed over to state-owned forestry firms PT Inhutani I through to V.

"By handing over the management to state firms, it is expected that the concession areas previously exploited by the private companies can be managed in a sustainable manner," said the minister after opening a joint meeting of Inhutani I-V executives.

Inhutani I President Abdul Fattah said his company would take over the management of 20 private concessions while Inhutani III would manage 22. The remainder would be managed by Inhutani II, IV and V.

He said taking over the management of private forest concessionaires was not profitable.

"In fact, it is very unprofitable because we have to make additional investments to replant the depleted forests. But the funds come from the government and anyway it is our job to rehabilitate damaged forests," Fattah said.

He explained that state-owned firms were only given a chance to gain long-term profits. He estimated the state companies would not start reaping profits from the newly-managed concessionaires for 20 years by which time the reforested areas could be harvested again.

Inhutani Firms

Inhutani I, established in 1972, manages 2.37 million hectares of East Kalimantan forest. It also oversees parts of forests in South Sulawesi and Maluku.

Inhutani II, founded in 1974, has operations in South and East Kalimantan, covering 603,000 hectares.

Inhutani III, established in 1974, operates in West and Central Kalimantan, covering 742,310 hectares of forests.

Inhutani IV, founded in 1991, manages 224,200 hectares of forests in Aceh, North and West Sumatra and Riau.

Inhutani V, also founded in 1991, oversees 958,690 hectares of forests in Jambi, South Sumatra, Bengkulu and Lampung.

Djamaludin said earlier last week the management of critical or depleted areas had reached a state which required serious attention.

He said there were 20 million hectares of forest in a critical state in Indonesia but this could increase extremely rapidly.

He said that outside Java, the main cause of the forest depletion was shifting cultivation, which has been taking place for hundreds of years. Practices of shifting cultivation is done by slashing and burning areas of forests.

Djamaludin acknowledged, however, the problem of shifting cultivation was a debatable issue as some critics have blamed forest depletion on large forest concessionaires.

"Actually, before the government introduced the concept of forest concessions in the early 1970's, large areas of critical land could already be seen in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Irian Jaya," he said. (06/pwn)