14 firms to develop oil palm plantations

JAKARTA (JP): The government has given 14 companies since 1982 approval to convert 187,140 hectares of Irian Jaya forests into oil palm estates, an official said yesterday.

The Director General of Forest Management and Inventory, Sumahadi, said 29 companies had asked for licenses to convert forests in that easternmost province into plantations since 1982.

"But only 14 companies have been permitted to convert 187,140 hectares of forest into oil palm estates," he said.

The companies included the Sinar Mas Group which was allowed to open only 19,100 hectares of the requested 111,000 hectares; the Djajanti Group 17,000 hectares of its requested 150,000 hectares; the Texmaco Group, 35,000 hectares from 300,000 hectares; the Korindo Group 34,900 hectares from 70,000 hectares; and PT Perkebunan Nusantara II 55,344 hectares from 113,000 hectares, he said.

Fifteen companies had their applications rejected because they did not meet the administrative requirements, or because the land they wanted was not approved for plantations, he said.

The 29 companies requested 1.74 million hectares initially.

Sumahadi said giving permits to companies to convert forest into plantations was one of the problems facing the forestry ministry, because the ministry tried to preserve forests.

Forestry ministry data shows there are currently at least 650 companies wanting to convert forest into plantations, most to oil palm plantations.

Most companies wanted between 10,000 and 17,000 hectares.

The forestry minister, Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo, said earlier much forest had been converted.

"In the past three years, about 1.05 million hectares, or 330,000 hectares a year, had been converted into plantations, most were oil palm estates," Djamaludin was quoted by Antara as saying.

He said the ministry turned down many requests in an attempt to preserve the country's forest. (das)