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.