STIDC amendment bill timely — Balingian rep
THE Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 seeks to strengthen Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation’s (STIDC) roles and function to achieve the goal set under the Post Covid19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS 2030).
In supporting the Bill, Abdul Yakub Arbi (GPS-Balingian) said the amendment is timely and will be an effective enabler to achieve the target by introducing laws and policies which regulate and facilitate the timber industry in this transformation journey.
“This Bill also seeks to give power to the general manager of STIDC to issue ‘Temporary Permit to Operate’ as a temporary measure to facilitate the timber industry,” he said in his debate yesterday.
He said that it is also to facilitate the timber industry while waiting for the issuance of a Timber Industry Licence, and for domestic use, it means any use for the purpose of construction, repair or extension of a dwelling house or making furniture and other goods and utensils to be used in the dwelling house, and not for sale, barter or profit.
This temporary permit is to be issued by the general manager for a limited period of time to facilitate the processing activities, he added.
“This permit would also be issued to those who carry out timber industry for domestic use. For example, rural community can apply for this temporary permit to build houses for own use in rural areas which are not accessible to any mill or construction material supplier.”
Furthermore, he added, these amendments are in line with the aspirations of the state’s PCDS 2030 on economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, social inclusivity, digital innovation and green economy.
Under the PCDS 2030, forestry sector is one of the economic sectors identified by the state to achieve the aspiration of Sarawak to be a developed state by 2030, he said.
“In this regard, the timber industry is to increase its export earnings to an annual export value of RM8 billion by the year 2030 through production of high value-added products. This Bill will streamline the powers and functions of the three agencies; namely STIDC, Forests Department, and Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC).”