Govt urged to review Cipta Jaya's land title
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)