Firm to be warned on mega rice project

JAKARTA (JP): The government is planning to reprimand PT Sumatra Timur Indonesia for working behind schedule and meddling in the government's affairs on the giant Kalimantan rice field project.

The Ministry of Public Works' Director General of Irrigation, Soeparmono, told reporters yesterday that Sumatra Timur, a subsidiary of the Sambu Group, had gone "too far" by meddling in something that was not their business.

"We will reprimand the company," he said during a break of a hearing of the House of Representatives' Commissions IV and V. The commissions oversee agriculture, forestry, transmigration and public works.

Yesterday's hearing was attended by officials of seven government agencies involved in the project.

The mega project involves converting one million hectares of peat land in Central Kalimantan into 638,000 hectares of rice fields. The remaining 362,000 hectares is to be used for horticulture, plantations, conservation areas, housing and reservoirs.

The government decided to establish new rice fields to help Indonesia's food security by regaining rice self-sufficiency.

Besides Soeparmono, whose ministry heads the project team, yesterday's hearing was also attended by the Director General of Food Crop and Horticulture, Amrin Kahar, from the Ministry of Agriculture; the Director General of Forestry Utilization, Titus Sarijanto; and the Director General of Forestry Inventory and Land Use Planning, Sumahadi, from the Ministry of Forestry.

Representing the Ministry of Transmigration were Director General of Housing H.J. Widarbo, Director General of Transmigrant Supervision Wibowo and Director General of Mobilization and Localization Soekamto.

Legislator Burhanuddin Napitupulu from House Commission V said yesterday that executives of Sumatra Timur said at a previous hearing that the project would cost Rp 5 trillion (US$2.17 billion).

Soeparmono said the government had not determined the total cost of the project. He acknowledged that the primary canals would cost about Rp 527 billion and the secondary and tertiary canals would cost Rp 137 billion, which would be paid by the state budget.

"(Sumatra Timur) has no business figuring out how much the project costs... The company is paid by the government to build the primary canals and that's all it needs to know," he said.

Behind schedule

Soeparmono said that Sumatra Timur's work was three to four percent behind schedule.

Burhanuddin, whose commission visited the project in Central Kalimantan in mid-June, said the company had achieved only 1.9 percent of its target while state-owned firms PT Pembangunan Perumahan and PT Wijaya Karya, which were appointed to build the secondary and tertiary canals and the rice fields, have achieved 8.9 percent and 6.9 percent of their targets, respectively.

Legislators yesterday also criticized the lack of coordination between government offices handling the project.

Marsinggih Marnadi, Burhanuddin and Umbu Mehang Kunda said that improved coordination between government was needed to ensure the project's success.

"The project must be carefully planned so that transmigrants will be willing to come and work on the fields. If not, many environmental problems will occur and Indonesia will face international criticism," Marsinggih said. (pwn)