Indonesian Army Secures 961-Hectare Forest Area Permit for Territorial Infantry Battalion HQ
The Indonesian Army has secured approval to use around 961.33 hectares of forest area to support the construction of a base for a Territorial Development Infantry Battalion (Yonif TP). Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni previously handed over 17 decrees of forest area use approval (PPKH) during a meeting attended by Minister of Defence Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, Deputy Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) General Tandyo Budi, and Deputy Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Muhammad Saleh Mustafa on Monday (27/8).
Brigadier General Rico Ricardo, Head of the Information Bureau at the Ministry of Defence Secretariat General, explained that the handover was part of completing the administrative aspects of using forest areas for the construction of the Yonif TP base. The Ministry of Defence received 17 PPKH decrees covering a total area of approximately 961.33 hectares. ‘With the issuance of these PPKH decrees, the Army has obtained approval to use the forest area in accordance with applicable regulations, so that construction of the base at the designated location can proceed,’ Rico said when contacted on Tuesday (28/7).
He noted that despite receiving approval, the Army must still fulfil further administrative obligations, including boundary demarcation as stipulated in the Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation Number 7 of 2021. ‘The construction process can run in parallel with the fulfilment of these obligations in accordance with the provisions,’ he stated.
Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin previously announced that every district and city in Java will be guarded by one Territorial Development Battalion this year. He explained that the target is to form 150 such battalions annually. ‘We are targeting 150 battalions each year to cover 514 districts. God willing, by 2026 all districts in Java will be guarded by one Territorial Development Infantry Battalion,’ Sjafrie said during a working meeting with Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives on Tuesday (19/5).