KUCHING: Pemanca Datuk Wong Kie Yik was re-elected as chairman of the Sarawak Timber Association (STA) for the 2020-2021 term at the association’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Monday (Dec 28).
Tan Sri Datuk Ling Chiong Ho and David Tiong Chiong Ong were re-elected as the vice chairmen, Datuk Henry Lau Lee Kong as the honorary secretary and Philip Choo Kwong Hui as the honorary treasurer.
Earlier, Wong, in his speech, said STA sought the state government’s understanding to expedite the issuance of a 60-year timber licence as announced in 2015.
He said STA members had spent considerable efforts on forest management certification (FMC) and its related activities despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As of today, I am pleased to note that out of a total of 22 certified Forest Management Units (FMUs) and eight certified Forest Plantation Management Units (FPMUs) in Malaysia, 13 FMUs and six FPMUs are located in approximately 1.37 million hectares of forest areas in Sarawak.
“In supporting the state government’s target of having all long-term forest timber licences certified by 2022, STA has allocated a considerable amount of resources to assist our members in their efforts to achieve this noble objective. However, we foresee FMC related activities to be even more challenging in the coming years for our members.
“It is time for the government, as the main driving force of FMC in Sarawak, to put in more efforts to promote a fair market for certified timber to ensure that the price of certified timber commensurate with its value. Security of tenure is of utmost importance for the continuous upkeep of FMC.
“With that, I seek the state government’s understanding to expedite the issuance of a 60-year licence as announced in 2015,” he said.
Wong added STA members had set up nurseries in their concession areas to facilitate replanting of trees in their concession areas in consonance with the government’s forest restoration programme.
In order to achieve the government’s tree planting target of one million hectares by 2025, Wong sought the government’s immediate assistance to overcome issues such as land claims, lack of coordinated research and development and shortage of manpower to speed up the progress of planting.
“New investors who will take over the existing Licence for Planted Forests (LPFs) will also face the same issues if they remain unresolved by relevant authorities,” he added.
Wong revealed that STA had received feedback on the usage of logging roads by the government’s contractors for the rural development projects to transport materials and machineries to the project sites.
“Members recognise the effort of the government and are in full support of the rural development projects. However, the upkeep of the logging roads for the safety of all users is of paramount importance and the contractors as users of the logging roads should be contributing to the maintenance costs through a token sum of only RM0.50 per registered gross vehicle tonnage (BDM) per kilometre per round trip on the active logging roads and for bridge span of 30 metres and below with strict adherence to the terms and conditions.
“I seek the government’s understanding to have prior consultation if any of these project contractors are passing through the concession areas and on the need to collect this contribution to maintain logging roads for the safety of all road users,” he pointed out.
Although the timber industry was allowed to operate under strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) during the movement control order, the high operational and administrative costs had forced mills to either reduce production or close down, added Wong.
“Plywood mills that remain in operation are only operating at 30 percent of their installed capacity. Hence, I urge the government to back our downstream members to address the predicament and tide them over this difficult time so that our members can sustain and go further downstream in producing value-added products towards achieving RM8 billion in export value by year 2030, as envisioned by the government,” he said.
