KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Forestry Department collected a revenue of RM155.32 million in 2023, the Sabah Legislative Assembly was told today.
Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan said from this amount, RM93.27 million is from royalties from timber-related activities and RM3.87 million is from the collection of fees for the inspection of exported wood products.
“Meanwhile, RM58.2 million is from other forest revenue such as forest reserve occupancy permit fees, licence renewal fees, agroforestry revenue royalties (rubber and palm oil), vehicle registration fees and other fees,“ he said.
He said this during the oral question-and-answer session in response to Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Senallang) who wanted to know how much the state collected in revenue from logs and wood processed in sawmills, whether from royalties or taxes.
Nizam said as of March 31 this year, the total round log royalty collection was as much as RM28.3 million, while the revenue from the inspection fee for exported wood products was as much as RM629.67 million and the collection from other forest products was about RM10.75 million.
He also said that no fees were collected for timber processed at local sawmills as all round logs were levied at the production area (source) before being sent to the processing mill.
“Inspection fees are only applied to some selected wood products that are exported and imported into the state of Sabah,“ he added.