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)