Environment agency remain idle

PEKANBARU, Riau: The provincial Environmental Impact Assessment Agency has yet to start work, three months after State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja inaugurated it with great fanfare, Antara reported yesterday.

Deputy rector of the University of Riau Muchtar Ahmad said however that the situation should not be interpreted that the province is neglecting environmental problems.

An environmental expert at the university, Adnan Kasri, said the agency does not even have people to man it. "It's difficult to find people to work in that agency," he said. (swe)