Bapedalda must be kept: Official

Bapedalda must be kept: Official

JAKARTA: The Office of the State Minister for the Environment has come out in opposition to a new government regulation merging regional Environmental Assessment Agency (Bapedalda) offices with other offices.

The deputy in charge of institutional policy, Hutomo, said on Friday that Bapedalda should be kept separate from other offices to avoid conflicts of interest.

"By limiting provincial offices to 10 and regency offices to 14, we are not sure if Bapedalda can be maintained," Hutomo said.

The government issued Regulation No. 8/2003 limiting departmental and state ministry offices to 10 at the provincial level and 14 at the regency level to boost efficiency.

Regional administrations have two years to implement the regulation. --JP