Ladia Galaska prone to landslides, quakes: Researcher
Ladia Galaska prone to landslides, quakes: Researcher
Moch. N Kurniawan, Jakarta
The proposed 470-kilometer Ladia Galaska highway from West to
East Aceh will be prone to natural disasters due to the fact that
its trajectory cuts through a number of fault lines in the
province, an expert with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
(LIPI) says.
Bandung-based LIPI researcher Adrin Tohari, who was a member
of a government-sanctioned team tasked with assessing the Ladia
Galaska scheme in the field, said that some sections of the road
would be highly vulnerable to landslides and earthquake damage.
He said that the Lhok Seumot-Beutong Ateuh section, Beutong
Ateuh-Ceulala section and the Uring section would be at most risk
from localized landslides, while the sections from Takengon to
Isag, Ise-Ise to Blangkejeren and Pinding to Lokop would be prone
to more generalized landslides.
"Therefore, any road schemes in these areas must be specially
designed to help reduce the landslide problem," he told a seminar
on the Ladia Galaska project held by the Community of Writers on
the Environment (KPL).
The seminar was also attended by State Minister for the
Environment Nabile Makarim, legislator Moh. Askin, and
representatives from a number of non-governmental organizations
(NGOs).
According to Adrin, LIPI had submitted its recommendations to
the government, but he refused to say whether the institute had
come out in favor of or against the project.
However, a source told The Jakarta Post that LIPI had urged
the government to halt the development of the controversial road
project.
The controversy over the scheme has mainly centered on those
sections that pass through the Leuser National Park.
Experts are worried that the road will lead to increased
illegal logging.
Some experts also say that the development of the road there
is not feasible due to frequent landslides.
However, the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional
Infrastructure has pushed ahead with the construction of some of
the sections of the road that do not cut through the national
park, saying that the Acehnese administration had requested the
building of the road to help link isolated areas in West Aceh and
East Aceh.
The ministry has appointed a number of firms to build
different sections of the route, including PT Wika Wira, PT
Hutama Karya and PT Adhikarya.
But the Office of the State Minister for the Environment has
continued to fight against the project.
State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim said
Thursday that the road plan lacked an environmental impact
analysis (Amdal), and thus it should be stopped.
Besides, he said, the road development would pass through the
Leuser National Park, and destroy the park's biodiversity and
increase illegal logging there.
The road would also create more ease for the separatist Free
Aceh Movement (GAM) in moving from one place to another, he said.
The development of the road, according to the minister, has
violated various articles of Law No 23/1997 on environmental
management, including article 18 (1), which states that every
activity that causes a significant environmental impact must be
preceded by an environmental impact analysis.
The construction of the road also breached Presidential Decree
No. 32/1990 on conservation area management, and Law No. 41/1999
on forestry, he said.