Complicated rules delay many oil palm projects

JAKARTA (JP): At least 156 investors have not been able to realize their investment plans to open oil palm plantations in East Kalimantan due to the complex licensing procedure, an official said yesterday.

East Kalimantan Governor Suwarna Abdul Fatah was quoted by Antara as saying in Samarinda that the 156 investors had received location permits from the provincial administration but they could not start their projects due to not having the so-called forest relinquishment permits from the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations.

Under the existing laws, he said, investors who want to turn forests into plantations are required to obtain location permits from the provincial administration and forest relinquishment permits from the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations.

It takes only one year for investors to get a location permit from the provincial administration but at least three years to get the forest relinquishment permits, he said.

Suwarna believed the ministry deliberately withheld the licenses to protect the interests of certain parties, but he gave no details.

"We have several times filed complaints with the central government over the case, but there has not yet been any response," he told several legislators from House of Representatives Commission II for political and administration affairs who are on a working visit to the province.

The governor said the province still had 21 million hectares of forest, including five million hectares available for plantation and industrial development.

He said the government needed to revoke the ruling which obliges oil palm investors to obtain forest relinquishment permits from the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations.

The investors should be allowed to work on the projects on the basis of permits issued by the provincial administration.

"In the spirit of reform, the government is expected to issue a ruling which will allow the local administrations to do all the licensing work," the governor said. (jsk)