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)