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)