Toba group opposes Indorayon reopening<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Lake Toba Heritage Foundation denounced the
\ngovernment on Saturday for allowing PT Inti Indorayon Utama (IIU)
\nto resume its pulp making operation in North Sumatra.<\/p>\n
The foundation, grouping prominent public figures from the
\nLake Toba area, warned of chaos and security disruption in the
\narea unless the government reversed its decision.<\/p>\n
\"The resumption of IIU's operation will clearly lead to chaos
\nin the Toba Samosir area in particular, and in North Sumatra in
\ngeneral,\" the foundation said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The chaos will certainly bring countless damages that would be
\ncounterproductive to current government efforts in wooing foreign
\ninvestors to Indonesia, it said.<\/p>\n
The government ruled on Wednesday of letting publicly listed
\nIIU resume its pulp making operation but not its rayon production
\nline, which it deemed as the most harmful of the two to the
\nenvironment.<\/p>\n
IIU, which is 86 percent owned by foreign investors through
\nAmerican depository receipts, was forced by the government to
\nclose down its entire operation near the Lake Toba area in 1998
\nfollowing riots between local people and company workers.<\/p>\n
The local people claimed that IIU's operation was destroying
\nthe environment, a theme echoed by the foundation on Saturday.<\/p>\n
In the two years since IIU ceased its operation, the \"stinking
\nodors have disappeared, as have the polluting poisonous gasses;
\ngone also are the heavy trucks which once ruled and destroyed the
\nroads and bridges; gone also is the systematic destruction of the
\nforests by IIU\", it said.<\/p>\n
IIU has insisted that its operations were in compliance with
\nenvironmental regulations. It has offered to submit its
\noperations for an independent audit.<\/p>\n
The foundation refuted the government's announcement that the
\nruling was a \"win-win solution for every one concerned\".<\/p>\n
The pulp operation would still mean felling trees and
\ndestroying forests; logging trucks would continue to destroy
\nhundreds of kilometers of roads and the operation would emit
\npoisonous gasses, it said.<\/p>\n
\"The income and foreign exchange earnings resulting from the
\noperation will not be comparable to the destruction of the
\necosystem, forest, roads and bridges it causes.<\/p>\n
\"The number of jobs created for around 2,000 people pales in
\ncomparison to the approximately 50,000 people it displaces in
\nagriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries,\" the statement said.<\/p>\n
The foundation \"strongly urged the government to revoke its
\ndecision to allow IIU to resume operating\".<\/p>\n
It also proposed the establishment of an independent committee
\nto investigate, validate and verify every internal and external
\ntransaction, payment and loan made by and to IIU and its
\nsubsidiaries.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/toba-group-opposes-indorayon-reopening-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}