Bangkok Post News (12/10/98)

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

Forestry chief cautious on companies' import request

Wants to make sure it's not Thai wood

The Forestry Department director general still has doubts regarding four
Thai companies' request to import logs from Burma and is working to ensure
that Thai trees will not felled and illegally included in the imports.
In response to a request from the firms - Thai  Korean Veteran Welfare,
B&F, SA Pharmaceutical, and Phol Phana - which reportedly plan to import
120,000 cubic metres of logs from Burma through Mae Hong Son, Plodprasop
Suraswadi took a helicopter to  survey their log yards here yesterday and
found that they were too deep in Thai territory.
"Log yards on Thai soil must be as close as possible to the border, not
further than five kilometres, while yards in Burma must be as deep as
possible on Burmese soil from the border," he said.
The survey found that the real locations of the yards were different from
those which the companies reported to the authorities to apply for approval
to import logs form Burma, he noted.
Moreover, each firm had not given the exact amount of logs it planned to
import, There was only a combined amount of the four companies.
"The department will not endorse imports until clear evidence is presented
to ensure that no Thai logs are included," he said.
He will discuss the proposal, which he said was a new idea to supervise log
imports, with the Foreign Ministry.
He said he still needed time to work out measures to ensure that the
imports would not open a chance for illegal logging groups to fell Thai
trees and claim them as imports.
People still remember the Salween log scandal in which Thai logs from the
Salween forest here were claimed as imports from Burma and the authorities
were still unable to find the culprits, he said.
Mr plodprasop also subordinates not to get involved in illegal logging or
they would face harsh punishment.
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