Sabah commercial forest reserve pays off investments

Demarkot forest reserve pays off
Ruben Sario, The Star 3 Feb 10;

KOTA KINABALU: The Dermakot commercial forest reserve which subscribes to sustainable management practices has paid off the investments made by the Sabah Government in over 20 years.

The state government had in­­vested some RM90.82mil in the intensely logged Dermakot forest reserve as of last Dec 31 and had earned RM91.37mil in revenue.

As on Jan 29, it earned another US$1.424mil (RM4.874mil) from the auction of 805 logs harvested from the 55,000ha Dermakot.

Sabah Forestry Department di­­rector Datuk Sam Mannan said that this marked a historic day for Dermakot’s management.

“Proceeds of the auction represent the full payment of the capital invested by the Sabah Gov­ernment over the past 20 years,” he added.

Mannan said from this year on­­wards, proceeds of log and other forest harvests from Der­makot were expected to contribute as much as RM4mil to the state coffers annually against man­­age­ment costs of about RM5mil.

“This translates to a rate of returns that ranges between 50% and 70%. It is competitive en­ough against the other alternative in­­­vestments,” he added.

He said Dermakot had served as lesson for the state.

“Had it been properly managed from the time logging there al­­lowed in 1950s, the Sabah Gov­­­­ernment would have been earning profits from day one.

“Unfortunately it has taken 20 years to recover from poor management practices. It is therefore imperative to get things right for the first time,” Mannan add­ed.

Mannan said sustainable forest management practices developed at Dermakot were now being ex­­panded to other Sabah for­­est re­serves including the 240,000ha Ulu Segama-Malua area.

He also thanked Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman for his key interest in ensuring the success of the Dermakot sustainable forest management programme.