KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Indonesia will stick to a controversial plan to open peatlands for oil palm estates as it seeks to develop the economy despite protests from green groups that this type of land conversion speeds up climate change. The Southeast Asian country wants to maintain its position as the world's top palm oil producer as it looks to hand over degraded land including peatlands to planters, a top Indonesian government official said on Wednesday.

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The Papua provincial administration is planning to build a 2,000 -megawatt (MW) hydro-power plant to meet electricity demand and to support infrastructure needs in Papua. “We are finishing the feasibility studies for the hydro-power plant. [It requires] more than Rp 5 trillion [about US$525 million],” Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu said Tuesday after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta A load off my mind: Loading and unloading activities at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta. State port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) II plans to develop Tanjung Priok port into an international hub port with docks 18 meters deep, starting next year. JP/R. Berto WedhatamaA load off my mind: Loading and unloading activities at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta.

Aditya Suharmoko, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta A large contributor to Indonesia’s economy, manufacturing industry, had relatively stagnant growth this year, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) says - but the government pledges to revitalize the crisis-hit sector starting next year. In the first nine months of this year, large- and medium-scale manufacturing industries grew an insignificant 0.02 percent from the same period in 2008, BPS reported.

Indonesia’s business competition authority (KPPU) has instructed PT Carrefour Indonesia, a subsidiary of Europe’s largest retailer, to sell its entire stake in a listed unit it bought in 2008 and pay a Rp25bn ($2.6m) fine. PT Carrefour Indonesia bought 75 per cent of PT Alfa Retailindo in January last year for Rp674bn, and later increased its stake to just over 79 per cent.

Singapore. Palm oil declined as mounting stockpiles in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer, boosted investor concern about excess supply. “Increasing palm oil stocks over in Indonesia are starting to get on people’s radar screen,” Carey Wong, an analyst at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., said by phone from Singapore on Tuesday. “The problem is demand hasn’t really picked up faster than the increase in production.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati expressed the view here on Tuesday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF)`s projection of 4.8 percent for Indonesia`s economic growth in 2010 was "very low." "IMF`s prediction is very low but then the fund can sometimes make a mistake," Sri Mulyani said after attending a meeting with a number of cabinet ministers at the Finance Ministry`s main building on Lapangan Banteng street here on Tuesday.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) has ruled that PT Carrefour Indonesia committed a monopolizing act and unhealthy competition by acquiring PT Alfa Retailindo Alfa`s supermarket chain early in 2008. "The commission rules Carrefour has proven guilty of violating Article 17 point 1 and Article 25 point 1a of the law against monopolies," the head of the KKPU`s council, Dedie S Martadisastra, said here on Tuesday.

Indonesia’s competition regulator on Tuesday ruled that the Indonesian subsidiary of French retail giant Carrefour was guilty of breaching antitrust laws, fining it Rp 25 billion ($2.6 million) and ordering it to sell most of its stake in a local retailer.