Agency not to blame for megaproject
Agency not to blame for megaproject
JAKARTA (JP): An official at the Agency for the Assessment and
Application of Technology (BPPT) said yesterday that the agency
should not be blamed for problems with development projects in
which it is not even involved.
M.T. Zen, the agency's Deputy Chairman for Natural Resources
Development, made the remark during a hearing with the House of
Representatives Commission X for science and technology.
He specifically named the multi-billion rupiah project that
will convert one-million-hectare peat moss area into rice
production fields. The project has been criticized as being
detrimental to the environment.
Zen said he knew virtually nothing about the peat-moss project
because the agency has never been involved in the project.
"I don't have a data base to which I can refer to make a
scientific evaluation," Zen told the group of skeptical
legislators, who called his statement a "political answer".
"As a research and assessment agency, couldn't you have
initiated an investigation into the project?" asked Ali Amran
Sidik of the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction.
According to Zen, President Soeharto appointed 13 ministers to
handle the project, but excluded BPPT. The agency is chaired by
the powerful Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie.
The government, due to drop in the amount of land available
for agricultural purposes in Java, is planning to convert one
million hectares of peat moss in Central Kalimantan into 638,000
hectares of rice fields. The project is also meant to help
Indonesia regain self-sufficiency in rice.
The remaining 362,000 hectares is to be used for horticulture,
plantations, conservation areas, housing and reservoirs.
"Don't ask me why the agency was not included," Zen told
reporters after the hearing.
Zen was presenting the agency's opinion of peat moss areas and
their uses for industry and energy resources.
According to the agency, Indonesia could develop peat moss
areas for purposes of agriculture, industry and energy. Zen
pointed out that mistakes in previous peat projects were usually
caused by an ignorance of suitable techniques and the
characteristics of peat.
The commission stated yesterday that it would support the
establishment of a Center for Tropical Peat Research. (14)