]YAYASAN Sabah will take control of the extraction, purchase, and sale of timber in Sabah as part of the government’s efforts to increase state revenue through an overhaul of the timber industry.

Chief Minister Shafie Apdal said he had instructed the state attorney-general to look into the existing laws to empower the government-linked agency with its new responsibilities.

The move would also end monopolies by concessionaires of the state’s forest management units.

“The government wants to end the practice of giving out concessions to private companies, which under the previous government controlled the extraction, purchase, and sale of timber,” Shafie said in Sandakan today.

“There were companies that were given some kind of monopoly (on the industry). They extracted the logs, set the buying price, and declared the royalty. I think this should stop.”

Last year, timber exports generated around RM150 million in revenue for the state via royalty payments.

Sabah timber exports hit record-high numbers in the 1970s and 1980s, contributing billions of ringgit to the state’s gross domestic product then.

Shafie said the time of private companies profiting from the state’s resources had ended.

He said that a government-linked company should have access to the profits, as more Sabahans would benefit from the increased revenue.

“If Yayasan Sabah profits, we could refurbish dilapidated schools and build technical institutions, but barely any of this can be done if the profits go to the private companies,” he said.

Yayasan Sabah was first set up in 1966 by the state government to promote educational and economic opportunities for the people of Sabah. – December 3, 2018.