Java losing land to tourist spots

JAKARTA (JP): Java, the home to more than half of Indonesia's 195 million people, cannot afford to lose more of its fertile land for recreational projects, a legislator said yesterday.

Moch. Marsinggih suggested that the government stop issuing permits for tourist projects in Java, known as Indonesia's most fertile island, so as to maintain it as a major food producer.

"The government should use its authority to seize land from investors who have long neglected the land they have acquired for whatever reasons," said the House member from Commission V overseeing tourism, housing and telecommunications.

The Indonesian government is determined to make the tourism sector its biggest single foreign exchange earner as of the seventh Five Year Plan (Repelita VII), which starts in 1999 to replace its drying oil reserves.

The loss of agricultural land in Java takes place at an alarming pace. According to State Minister of Agrarian Affairs/Chairman of the National Land Agency Soni Harsono, about 50,000 hectares of fertile land on the island is acquired every year to make way for development projects.

To preserve fertile land, Jakarta has asked local governments to tighten rules on the appropriation of agricultural land.

In the latest controversial recreational projects, the government of Tangerang, West Java, have given the green light to a Jakarta investor to acquire 4,000 hectares on land for a seaside resort in Teluknaga.

In some provinces, regulations on land acquisition are mere a heap of dung because appropriation of vast areas for development projects often involve collusion between entrepreneurs and local government officials.

According to Marsinggih, many investors have misused the government permits. "For example, there are cases where investors use up to 60 percent of their land to build public housing instead of recreational facilities such as hotels," he said.

The legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) suggested that the government and investors turn their attention to the outer islands for tourist development. (pan)