C. Kalimantan to convert forests into plantations

JAKARTA (JP): Central Kalimantan's Provincial Government has revealed a new master plan, stipulating 1.7 million hectares of land, originally designated as protected forest, would be used for agricultural plantations.

Deputy of the Local Development Planning Agency, Benhart Benung, said the new master plan decreased protected forest areas from 3.4 million hectares, to 1.7 million hectares, to make way for the plantations.

As a result, cultivated land in Central Kalimantan will now expand to 13.6 million hectares, up from 11.9 million hectares previously.

Benhart stated most of the new farm areas were part of the government's one-million hectare rice field project, currently under development. The project overlaps at least three regencies in the province, he said.

The million-hectare project, which started earlier this year, was designed to enable Indonesia to regain self-sufficiency in rice production. The project involves the conversion of one million hectares of peat land, into rice fields and agricultural plantations.

Benhart said the changes to the provincial master plan were made to comply with the local Conversion Forest Utilization Plan, issued by the Ministry of Forestry.

"Variations between the two spatial outlines, previously made it difficult for the local government to develop the province's plantation sector," he said, as quoted by Antara.

He said the old master plan often posed problems for prospective investors, who had to seek a license to convert forests into agricultural areas.

The licenses are issued by the local office of the Ministry of Forestry, and not by the provincial administration.

Head of the local Plantation Office, Hendry Nahan, said some investors had been forced to wait a year to obtain licenses for their plantation projects.

To date, about 163 investors have submitted proposals to establish more than 2.2 million hectares of plantations, Hendry said.

Of these, 142 investors planning to develop 1.5 million hectares of agricultural areas have obtained recommendations and location permits from the Governor. Seven others have been granted the right to cultivate, (land title), while the others are still in various stages of processing.

Hendry said 44 companies were currently developing 291,000 hectares of plantations. (pwn)