Govt 'must review its land swap deal with Salim firms'
Govt 'must review its land swap deal with Salim firms'
JAKARTA (JP): State-owned forestry firm Perum Perhutani has urged the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations to review its 1995 land swap deals with two companies in the widely diversified Salim Group.
Perhutani General Affairs Director Bambang Sardjito said on Wednesday that the two swap deals only benefited the two Salim Group companies, PT Pertiwi Lestari and PT Besland Pertiwi.
He said that the unfair deal probably involved KKN, the local acronym for corruption, collusion and nepotism.
Minister of Forestry and Plantations Muslimin Nasution has set up a team to review all swap deals between the ministry and private companies, especially those linked to former president Soeharto's family and cronies following mounting public pressure to investigate the former president's wealth.
"The team is currently reviewing the swap deal between the ministry and PT Bukit Jonggol Asri. So, we urge the ministry to also review the swap deals with PT Pertiwi Lestari and PT Besland Pertiwi."
Perhutani's head of legal affairs, security and public relations, Baginda Sitanggang, said that under the swap deals, PT Pertiwi Lestari and PT Besland Pertiwi, were given the right to swap 7,100 hectares and 1,817 hectares respectively of state- owned forest area managed by Perum Perhutani in the Purwakarta- Cikampek area, West Java, with the same amount of land in Pandeglang, West Java.
The two companies intended to use the land acquired from Perum Perhutani to build industrial estates, he said.
"Perum Perhutani questioned the swap deals because under regulations, compensation for land acquired for commercial purposes is based on 1:3 ratio, that for every square meter of land acquired, the companies taking over the land must provide 3 square meters in another area," Sitanggang said.
Under the regulations, PT Pertiwi Lestari and PT Besland Pertiwi should have provided more than 21,000 hectares and 5,000 hectares of land respectively to replace the land they acquired because they knew at the time the Perhutani land would be used for commercial purposes.
Perhutani President Abdul Fattah DS said Perhutani was powerless to do anything at the time because it had to obey the minister of forestry in transactions of state land. The minister dealt directly with the Salim Group, one of the conglomerates closest to Suharto.
Sitanggang explained that the compensation ratio for land acquired from Perhutani that had already been earmarked for public facilities was 1:1.
When the land is categorized as for use for "strategic projects", the ratio is 1:2, meaning that twice as much land should be given to replace the acquired land.
The ministry is currently reviewing its swap deal with PT Bukit Jonggol Asri, a consortium set up by Soeharto's second son Bambang Trihatmodjo with Kaestindo Group, because the latter had not fulfilled its obligation to provide 8,300 hectares of forest areas in exchange for Perhutani's 3,100 hectare site used for the 30,000-hectare township project.
Sitanggang said that not all of swap deals obtained by the Soeharto family were obtained through KKN practices in violation of the regulation.
For example, he said, PT Bahana Sukma, owned by Soeharto's second son Bambang Trihatmodjo, provided 1,590 hectares of land to replace 430 hectares of forest it acquired from Perum Perhutani for its Hyundai car factory in Purwakarta, West Java. (gis)