156 Forestry Concession Licenses to be Auctioned Off
Monday, 08 January, 2007 | 17:09 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Forestry Department will revoke the forestry concession licenses (HPH) of 156 companies that remain inactive and have not shown they are able to start operations again by the middle of this month.

Out of 161 HPH holders who have problems, by January 5, only five of them had stated their will to become active again.

“If they are unable to operate, the licenses will be auctioned off again,” said Hadi Susanto Pasaribu, Director General of Forestry Production Management, at his office, Jakarta, last weekend.

However, he said he was optimistic that the number companies willing to become active again will increase.
“We're waiting,” he said.

Last December, the department warned 161 companies, which are HPH holders, that are ineffective and have performed badly.

They were given six months in which to meet administration and technical requirements in order to become active again.

The statements of willingness to start operations again must be conveyed within a month at the latest after the warning.

Forestry Minister Malam Sabat Kaban has also pushed HPH holder companies whose performance is bad, to carry out improvements for the next three years.

The Forestry Department has issued a total of 303 HPHs, but only 132 are active and of the remainder, 161 are not operating anymore.

Between 2002 and 2005, an independent assessment institution stated that out of 168 companies holding HPHs, only 42 were categorized as good.

Ewo Raswa