Govt to retake 3,100-ha plot from Soeharto son<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A 3,100-hectare forestry area in a huge township
\nproject near Bogor controlled by the second eldest son of former
\npresident Soeharto will revert to the Ministry of Forestry and
\nPlantations, a forestry official said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Director General of Inventory and Forest Land Use Soebagjo
\nHadisepoetro said a new presidential decree would be issued soon
\nrevoking Presidential Decree No.1\/1997 on the 30,000-hectare
\nJonggol township in Bogor, West Java, and two other developments.<\/p>\n
\"God willing, the presidential decree will be issued by the
\nend of this month,\" he said after opening an international
\nconference on tropical forest land inventory.<\/p>\n
\"After the revocation, the development in the area will be in
\nline with the existing planning. And since the Jonggol area
\npreviously functioned as a water catchment area, it will be
\nreforested.\"<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, President B.J. Habibie decided to revoke
\nthe three presidential decrees signed by his predecessor
\nSoeharto. They are Presidential Decree No. 52\/1995 on the
\nreclamation of the North Jakarta Bay, Presidential Decree No.
\n73\/1995 on the reclamation of the Kapuk Naga coast in Tangerang
\nand Presidential Decree No. 1\/1997 on the development of Jonggol.<\/p>\n
Reasons given for the revocation of the decrees include the
\nextension of special privileges to the project owners and
\nviolations of city planning regulations.<\/p>\n
PT Bukit Jonggol Asri, the developer of the Jonggol township
\nproject, is controlled by Soeharto's second eldest son Bambang
\nTrihatmodjo and the Kaestindo Group. PT Manggala Krida Yudha, one
\nof the developers of the Jakarta Bay reclamation project, is
\nowned by Bambang's youngest sister, Siti Hutami Endang
\nAdiningsih.<\/p>\n
Early this year, the ministry requested that the township
\nproject be put on hold until a dispute was settled.<\/p>\n
Soebagjo asserted that PT Bukit Jonggol Asri had not fulfilled
\nits obligation to provide forest areas in exchange for
\ndevelopment of Jonggol, about 30 kilometers southeast of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
He said the ministry agreed in 1996 to allow the firm the use
\nof the 3,100 hectares of state forestry areas in exchange for
\n8,000 hectares of forested areas in the West Java regencies of
\nCianjur, Tasikmalaya and Garut.<\/p>\n
The consortium subsequently proposed exchanging the 3,100
\nhectares from the government with the same acreage of land.<\/p>\n
However, the area offered by the consortium was not forested
\nland as stipulated in their original agreement, Soebagjo added.<\/p>\n
Soebagjo said the ministry would also rehabilitate the area
\nallocated for the Kapuk Naga reclamation project, conducted by PT
\nKapuk Naga Indah.<\/p>\n
Kapuk Naga, a subsidiary of the widely diversified Salim
\nbusiness group, was licensed to reclaim 674 hectares north of
\nPantai Kapuk in the western part of the Jakarta Bay reclamation
\nzone, which covers a total area of 2,700 hectares.<\/p>\n
The investors claimed that the Kapuk Naga reclamation project,
\nwhich was scheduled to be completed within 15 years, would
\nimprove the preservation of mangrove forests along the coast.<\/p>\n
But many environmental analysts have charged that the project
\nactually threatens the biodiversity of North Jakarta's mangrove
\nforests. (gis)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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