YAYASAN Sabah’s timber concession with Hormat Jadi Sdn Bhd is not a “lopsided” deal but factors in the high cost of aerial logging, Sabah Forestry director Sam Mannan said today in response to a report filed by an opposition party with the anti-graft authorities.

He said the heli-logging method was better for the environment and reduced ground damage by 5% compared with 70% damage by conventional tractor logging.

But this would come at a cost of US$8,800 an hour (RM35,000).

“The public can be assured that environmental concerns are always factored in, in line with the state forest management policy,” Manan said.

Mannan was responding to allegations by Parti Warisan Sabah that Yayasan Sabah’s subsidiary, Rakyat Berjaya Sdn Bhd, had entered into a “lopsided helicopter-logging deal” with Hormat Jadi Sdn Bhd to extract timber from the Gunung Rara forest reserve.  

Warisan’s vice-president Junz Wong yesterday lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in Putrajaya where he told reporters that Rakyat Berjaya would only able to earn RM1.6 million a month, compared with the RM27 million a month in potential earnings for Hormat Jadi in the three-year deal. 

Hormat Jadi would thus be paying Yayasan Sabah RM65 per cubic metre, when research in 2013 showed the timber fetched between US$285 and US$550 per cubic metre depending on the type, Wong said.

Mannan said the logging would be carried out in a Class II forest and will not enter the Maliau Basin nearby, which is classified as totally protected.

“The Maliau Basin is safe as it is monitored daily and protected by the forestry… any usage of old roads and landing in buffer zones is subjected to the strict conditions of the Maliau Basin Committee,” he said.

On allegations that the logging contract was offered around the same time 14 pygmy elephants were found dead near the Gunung Rara forest reserve four years ago, Mannan said it was just a coincidence. – August 25, 2017.