Task Force Urges Forestry Ministry to Resolve Aceh Business Permits Within 3 Months

The Debottlenecking Task Force for the Acceleration of Government Strategic Programmes (P2SP) has requested that the Ministry of Forestry resolve forest area utilisation permits for two pine resin businesses in Aceh within three months. As a result of the incomplete permits, the two companies—PT Ika Trias Serangkai and PT Kencana Hijau Binalestari—have temporarily halted export activities for 12 pine resin derivative products previously sold to 26 countries. “Regarding PT Kencana Hijau Binalestari and PT Ika Trias Serangkai, this can be completed within a three-month timeframe through monitoring by the task force,” said Working Group Chair for Programme Implementation Acceleration and Debottlenecking, Satya Bhakti Parikesit, in Jakarta on Thursday. He explained that both companies began pine resin tapping operations through cooperation with the Regional Technical Implementation Unit for Forest Management Unit 3 and KPH 5 in the Aceh region, based on Cooperation Agreements with durations of five years from 2016 to 2021 and ten years from 2014 to 2024. The two business entities subsequently applied to adjust their forest utilisation permits from Cooperation Agreements to Timber Forest Product Utilisation Permits in October 2023, but the process stalled because the agreements had expired in 2021 and 2024. Satya stated that the expiry of these agreements caused the permit adjustment application process to be halted, creating uncertainty for the businesses. The hearing therefore recommended that the licensing process be continued by completing a number of required documents, including a forest utilisation area map. “We are providing the solution that the existing process can actually be continued using the old application. It just needs to be finalised promptly. All that is needed is to provide certainty to the businesses,” said Satya Bhakti Parikesit.