Pahang wants RM100m for loss of logging revenue
Published on: Saturday, August 20, 2005
KUANTAN: The state government is seeking RM100 million compensation from the federal government to offset revenue loss from logging in permanent forest reserves every year. Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob said yesterday the compensation would help the state's coffers if logging in forest reserves were to be stopped. So far, Pahang is the only state to gazette 1.5 million ha of forests as permanent forest reserves for water catchment and conservation.
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"As regulations still permit forest reserves to be logged to a certain hec tarage, the state government earns RM100 million from logging every year," Adnan told reporters after opening a seminar on the Sungai Bebar and Sungai Debar biodiversity expedition here. "If the federal government is prepared to contribute a bit, we can stop logging (in per manent forest reserves)." Adnan said the compensation request would be tabled at the next National Forestry Council meeting although it had been raised before. In a related development, Adnan said weaknesses stemming from lax enforcement by the State Forestry Department would be addressed.
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He said the most glaring weakness was repeated marking of timber trees by loggers when a marking should be used only once. "We've detected loggers using the markings repeatedly like bus or cinema tickets."
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