Timber seized during crackdown to be sold

School of Vice: 

If all the trees that have been felled since 1979 were placed in a single pile, it would be a timber mountain that would have stood as tall as Everest! 

Selling the timber at world market rate [instead of giving it for free mostly through granted ELC licenses and illicit trade] and generated revenue not lost through official corruption, the national economy would have been much healthier where civil servants would be paid a decent wage and the elderly and minors properly looked after, rather than being left to fend for themselves on the streets - as they presently are. Not that such wholesale destruction would be necessary under any circumstances because the forest holds far more precious value for human life and protection than the amount of the dollars that the Cambodian elite sees in it, or the strategic military sanctuary that the Vietnamese fear would provide for foreseeable future indigenous nationalist causes.  

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Authorities inspect a stockpile of illegal timber last month after it was discovered during a raid in Kampong Speu province. National Police

Timber seized during crackdown to be sold

Wed, 11 May 2016 ppp

Vong Sokheng

Prime Minister Hun Sen confirmed yesterday that at least some of the 70,000 cubic metres of wood seized by the anti-logging committee would go up for auction, contradicting his March pledge to stop such sales and hand the remaining timber to the Ministry of Education.

“Some timber is going to die [if we wait] for the teachers to transport it,” Hun Sen said during a graduation ceremony at Koh Pich.

“Therefore, we have established a committee to put the [timber] up for bid in the country but not for export.” He said that revenue from the auction would be used to buy construction materials for more schools.

Anti-logging committee spokesman Eng Hy said most of the timber remained in forests around Kratie, Mondulkiri and Stung Treng where it had been found.

Both Hy and Forestry Administration director Chheng Kim Sun said they didn’t know any specifics about the proposed auction.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said that the Education Ministry was not guaranteed to get all the revenue.

“Normally, it would be [divided among] relevant ministries such as the ministries of education, economy and finance, agriculture, environment and the Forestry Administration,” said Siphan.

Cambodia National Rescue Party spokesman Yim Sovann said his party’s lawmakers were continuing to call for greater transparency in the bidding process, a request that the ruling party still has not fulfilled.

“The suspicion of the lack of transparency has remained for every state asset put up for bid,” said Sovann.

Additional reporting by Igor Kossov