Firm to be warned on mega rice project

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)