Govt to relocate parts of Ladia Galaska road<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government is planning to relocate sections of the
\ncontroversial Ladia Galaska road project to minimize destruction
\nin Gunung Leuser National Park, a cabinet minister has said.<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear, however, if the sections would
\nbe relocated away from the park, with Minister of Forestry M.
\nPrakosa saying only that the matter would be decided later.<\/p>\n
\"One section to be relocated is a 14-kilometer stretch of road
\nin East Aceh,\" Prakosa said before meeting President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"Apart from that section, some others pass through river
\nbasins and might be relocated as well,\" Prakosa said.<\/p>\n
The Ladia Galaska road project connects Meulaboh on the Indian
\nOcean side of Aceh with Perlak on the Malacca Strait, via
\nTakengon, Blangkejeren, Pinding and Lokop.<\/p>\n
Almost half of the route passes through Gunung Leuser National
\nPark, especially the part linking Blangkejeren, Pinding, Lokop
\nand Penaron in East Aceh.<\/p>\n
Prakosa said the decision to relocate some parts of the road
\nwas taken after he, along with State Minister of the Environment
\nNabiel Makarim and Minister of Settlement and Regional
\nInfrastructure Soenarno, visited the site.<\/p>\n
He also said that a team from his office would leave for the
\nLadia Galaska project area on Tuesday to study the project.<\/p>\n
\"The team will make a full feasibility study on the routes and
\nis slated to complete the analysis by Dec. 31, before we decide
\nwhere to relocate the roads,\" Prakosa said.<\/p>\n
The Ladia Galaska project has come under public scrutiny
\nfollowing the recent Bahorok flash flood that caused the death of
\nover 130 people in Langkat regency, North Sumatra, last week.<\/p>\n
Prakosa, however, suggested on Monday that the controversial
\nroad project had nothing to do with the incident, which has left
\nover 100 people missing.<\/p>\n
\"Ladia Galaska is located far away from Langkat; there is no
\nconnection at all, so we shall continue with the project,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
A study by the Leuser Management Unit (UML) said that massive
\ndeforestation, including that for the road project, had caused
\nthe flash flood.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Nabiel said that the road project should be stopped,
\nunderlining that it would also open up access for illegal loggers
\nto transport their stolen logs.<\/p>\n
Soenarno, however, defended the project, saying that the
\npeople of East Aceh needed the road to end their isolation and
\nimprove the transportation infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The three ministers agreed on Monday that the Bahorok flood
\nwas a natural disaster that had nothing to do with the Ladia
\nGalaska road project.<\/p>\n
\"From the site we visited, we saw that trees had been uprooted
\nby heavy rain, so it was not because of illegal logging,\" Nabiel
\nsaid on Monday.<\/p>\n
Remote sensing expert from the National Survey and Mapping
\nAgency (Bakorsurtanal) Aris Poniman said that satellite photos
\nshowed that the forest at Leuser was in a good state.<\/p>\n
\"However, the slopes in the mountain have an incline of more
\nthan 70 degrees; with heavy rains there can be flash floods. In
\nLangkat such landslides occur every 10 years,\" Aris said.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that the disaster had occurred because people
\nhad settled in the area, which lay in the path of a river.<\/p>\n
\"The same kind of flash flooding also occurs in Papua all the
\ntime but receives very little publicity because nobody lives
\nthere,\" Aris said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-to-relocate-parts-of-ladia-galaska-road-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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