Committee set to solve land, forest problems
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry and the National Land Agency (BPN) yesterday formed a permanent committee to address land and forest management problems related to land appropriation, license overlapping, swaps and planning.
The committee, which boasts 17 top officials from the two institutions as members, was established under the joint decree of Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo and State Minister for Agrarian Affairs/Chairman of BPN Soni Harsono.
Indonesia, which currently has 113 million hectares of forests with reserves of some 2.4 billion cubic meters of timber, last year exported US$5.47 billion worth of wood products, which accounted for 14.86 percent of the country's total exports.
"This committee was formed to speed up and coordinate bureaucratic procedures," said Djamaludin. "They have direct access to both of us."
Soni added that the committee would start working today.
Djamaludin also said the committee is expected to handle problems of land appropriation, overlapping of licenses, land swaps and master plans more efficiently.
He referred to the Pantai Indah Kapuk waterfront of North Jakarta as one land-swapping case which he labeled "significantly time-consuming."
The already completed Indah Kapuk golf course and residential project, which was formerly a mangrove swamp, became the center of controversy last year as the developers encountered criticism from legislators and environmentalists. The developers eventually offered another plot, located in West Java, as compensation for the damage in North Jakarta.
The offer, however, has yet to materialize, and the environmental impact analysis conducted by the government- controlled Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) is still pending.
Soni also noted that the two ministers will serve as the committee's advisors.
The permanent committee is jointly chaired by the Forestry Ministry's Director General of Forest Inventory/Forest Utilization and BPN's Ministerial Aide on Agrarian Planning.
The committee will have two secretaries, who are concurrently the Director of Program Development of the Forestry Ministry and the Assistant to the State Minister of Agrarian Affairs. The other members consist of second echelon officials from the two offices.
Fire
In response to questions about a fire razing forests in Lampung, Djamaludin said, "I do not rule out the possibility that the arson was rooted in labor problems."
About 5,000 hectares of dry forests in South Sumatra, including the timber estate of PT Musi Persada, a subsidiary of the listed Barito Pacific Timber, have reportedly been damaged by the fire.
News reports stated that the authorities have arrested three suspects who later admitted that they had burned the forests because of wage disputes.
"Anyway I'm going there today to find out for sure what really took place," Djamaludin added. (hdj)