Try Pheap Firm in Talks to Replicate Timber Deal
Well-known timber magnate Try Pheap is preparing to expand cross-country with a scheme that already gives him exclusive rights to buy all the wood felled on economic land concessions (ELCs) in Ratanakkiri province, a spokesman for the businessman said. The Agriculture Ministry’s Forestry Administration in February gave Try Pheap Import Export the exclusive rights to buy all the lumber harvested on ELCs across Ratanakkiri, where Mr. Pheap owns two ELCs of his own. Government officials said the deal would help to curb the province’s rampant illegal logging trade. But local residents and human rights groups say the past several months have proved just the opposite, and have called on the government to end the exclusive deal with Try Pheap. … Pheang Chetra, a public relations officer for Try Pheap Import Export, said this week that he did not know how much lumber the firm had bought from ELCs in Ratanakkiri since securing the exclusive purchase deal or how much it had paid for the wood. But, Mr. Chetra said, the firm is in the midst of negotiations with land concession owners in several other provinces to arrange similar exclusive purchase deals. … He [ Pheang Chetra] said his company was in negotiations with land concession owners in Stung Treng province, but declined to name any of the ELC owners or other provinces where talks were underway. … At the same time, Mr. Chetra conceded that his company had no reliable system to determine whether the timber it was buying from ELCs was legally or illegally logged. “I have no idea how to say which one is legal and which one is illegal. But in Ratanakkiri the forest is almost cleared, so how can we say it is illegal wood?” Mr. Chetra said. “We just buy the wood inside the land concession; we don’t buy the wood outside the land concession. … Van Songvath, the province’s deputy police chief, conceded that illegal logging and transport of timber was on the rise of late and said local police, military and Forestry Administration officials had recently formed a joint committee to tackle the problem. … Ouch Leng, who heads the Cambodia Human Rights Task Force, said another deal Mr. Pheap inked with the government earlier this year, to buy some 5,000 cubic meters of illegally logged wood already confiscated by the Forestry Administration across the country, was also adding to the overall problem. The Forestry Administration said Try Pheap Import Export offered $3.4 million in its successful bid for the 5,000 cubic meters of confiscated wood. …
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/try-pheap-firm-in-talks-to-replicate-timber-deal-48511/
