Peat land project faces housing crisis<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Building 3,000 houses in six months for
\nresettlers to farm the one million hectares allocated for a peat
\nagricultural land project in Central Kalimantan is becoming a
\nheadache for the government.<\/p>\n
Astri Surjanto, of the ministry of transmigration, said
\nyesterday that the 3,000 houses in Dadahup are supposed to be
\ncompleted by March 1997.<\/p>\n
\"As of now, only 600 houses have been built and we are having
\nproblems with the funding for the rest,\" said Astri, who is in
\ncharge of building houses for prospective farmers.<\/p>\n
To add to his apprehension, in the next phase, that begins in
\nMarch and lasts 12 months, he is supposed to build another 20,000
\nhouses in order to accommodate all the 250,000 people earmarked
\nfor the Central Kalimantan megaproject.<\/p>\n
\"It is an especially difficult task because the building
\nmaterials can only be transported by river owing to insufficient
\nland infrastructure,\" Astri said.<\/p>\n
The project, launched in February, involves converting
\none million hectares of peat land in Central Kalimantan into
\n638,000 hectares of rice fields. The remaining 362,000 hectares
\nare to be used for horticulture, plantations, conservation areas,
\nhousing and reservoirs.<\/p>\n
Converting the peat moss area into agricultural land is meant
\nto compensate for the development of agricultural areas in Java
\ninto housing complexes, industrial areas and highways over the
\npast 10 years.<\/p>\n
The one-million-hectare peat moss land is the most expensive
\ndevelopment project this year; its cost is estimated at about Rp
\n5 billion (US$2.1 million). To convert a hectare of peat land
\ninto agricultural land costs about Rp 5 million.<\/p>\n
The government has already spent some Rp 527.2 billion
\nbuilding the required infrastructure, including the irrigation
\nsystem.<\/p>\n
The first phase of the project will include resettling some
\n1,000 families, mostly farmers from Java, to work on a miniature
\nproject of 10,000 hectares scheduled to start in the 1997
\nplanting season.<\/p>\n
In general, the people running the housing project have had
\nproblems obtaining building materials because only private forest
\nconcessionaires have rights to supply wood, Astri said.<\/p>\n
Houses on the peat land, according to Astri, are being
\nslightly modified to cope with the characteristics of the soft
\nsoil. Developers are using lighter construction materials, such
\nas asbestos or aluminum.<\/p>\n
Asbestos, once widely used in dozens of industrial
\napplications from insulation to car brakes, has been associated
\nfor decades with cancer and other deadly diseases, primarily
\nrespiratory ailments like lung cancer and asbestosis.<\/p>\n
Asbestos-related ailments are particularly vexing to health
\nexperts because people affected may show no signs of disease for
\nup to 40 years.<\/p>\n
\"We have not received any health hazard notices from the World
\nHealth Organization or the Department of Health on the use of
\nasbestos,\" Astri said. (14)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/peat-land-project-faces-housing-crisis-1447893297",
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