Govt urged to review Cipta Jaya's land title

JAKARTA (JP): Several legislators urged the National Land Agency yesterday to review the land title given in 1994 to PT Cipta Jaya Raya in Labuhan Batu district, North Sumatra.

The House members said that the land title may have been processed based on falsified documents reported by Cipta Jaya.

"Cipta Jaya has never implemented any concrete programs to develop the land since it obtained a provisional permit in 1986 from the agriculture minister to open oil palm estates," Bachtiar Hamzah, a House member from North Sumatra, said yesterday.

A provisional permit is the same as government approval and must be given before a land title can be issued.

Bachtiar, who announced the findings from his recent visit to the 4,480-hectare area said that another company, PT Indo Sepadan Jaya, has been planting palm oil trees in the same area since 1991.

The justification for giving the company the land certificate in 1994 is questionable because it has not done any planting in the seven years since it obtained a provisional permit," Bachtiar said.

No Cipta Jaya executives in Medan were available for comment yesterday.

Moreover, according to Bachtiar, government officials admitted to not having carried out any field inspections prior to the certification.

But, he added, Indo Sepadan received recommendations and permits from the North Sumatra Agrarian Office, the governor and the Labuhan Batu regent as well as the minister of agriculture to develop the same area.

"In fact, Indo Sepadan has so far developed 3,687 hectares of palm oil estates in the area and has even begun producing," Bachtiar said.

Indo Sepadan, according to Bachtiar, received its license from the agriculture ministry in 1990 for developing 3,500 hectares of palm oil plantation in the area.

"Based on those documents, Indo Sepadan deserves the right to exploit the land," Bachtiar added.

He said the land dispute between the two companies should be solved immediately to maintain legal certainty for plantation investors in the province.

Bachtiar expressed concern that new investors might be discouraged from opening new plantations in the province if the National Land Agency doesn't explain why the certificate was issued. (08)