Councilor seeks cancellation of Teluknaga resort project

Councilor seeks cancellation of Teluknaga resort project

TANGERANG (JP): A senior councilor is seeking the cancellation
of a Rp 14 trillion ($1.4 billion) Teluknaga resort project
because he claims the awarding of it to tycoon Liem Sioe Liong
smacks of collusion with former president Soeharto.

Burhanudin Somawinata, a deputy chief of Tangerang legislative
council, said the project had brought misery to the locals
because they were being forced to sell their properties to PT
Kapuk Naga Indah, the firm managing the project.

"The company is taking the farmers hostage... they cannot
sell their property to any other party no matter how urgent their
need for cash may be," Burhanudin told journalists.

Based on a 1996 presidential decree, Liem -- one of Asia's
richest people and Soeharto's long-time friend -- obtained the
principle permit to develop Tangerang's northern coastline into a
tourist haven.

PT Kapuk Naga Indah needs 8,000 hectares of land for the
megaproject. It will have to acquire 4,000 hectares of land in 14
villages and reclaim a 4,000-hectare area from the sea.

At an ceremony which former president Soeharto attended last
year, West Java Governor R. Nuriana said Liem's company would
allocate 892 hectares for landscape, 1,608 hectares for roads and
canals, 294 hectares for public facilities, 226 hectares for a
commercial district and 4,480 hectares for housing.

Four hundred and fifty hectares will be developed into a
mangrove forest, 630 hectares into marine facilities and 30
hectares will be made into a fishing village and paddy fields.

It will take PT Kapuk Naga Indah between 25 years and 30 years
to complete the project.

Burhanudin suggested the West Java governor take as an example
the East Java governor, who had the courage to review all
projects that hinted at nepotism and collusion during the
Soeharto administration.

"The legislative council has never been consulted about the
project," he said. (41)