Indorayon stops production

Indorayon stops production

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed PT Inti Indorayon Utama near
Lake Toba in North Sumatra, has again stopped rayon and pulp
production due to disruption of supplies and materials to its
mills, the company's spokesman, Fatmin Prihatin Manalu said on
Tuesday.

Manalu told Antara Indorayon, which resumed production in
November after its operations were paralyzed for almost four
months by demonstrators, ceased production again late last month
as logging trucks hauling materials to its mills were often
vandalized by protesters.

The US$600 million pulp and rayon factory has been dogged
since July by persistent troubles caused by protesting
demonstrators who have accused it of damaging the environment and
causing health hazards among the locals.

Indorayon, which has annual capacities of 240,000 metric tons
of pulp and 60,000 tons of rayon, was ordered by the government
to resume operations in November to allow for an independent
audit team to evaluate the company.

However, the government-appointed audit team has yet to
arrive, Manalu added.

Meanwhile, thousands of Indorayon employees staged a
demonstration in front of the nearby PT Inalum aluminum smelter
company located near Lake Toba alleging that the Indonesia-Japan
joint venture had masterminded the public protests against
Indorayon.

But Inalum's manager H. Achiruddin flatly denied the
allegation.