Ministry of Forestry ready to facilitate land provision for post-disaster recovery
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Minister of Forestry Rohmat Marzuki has declared the Ministry of Forestry’s readiness to provide land within forest areas if needed as part of post-disaster recovery efforts in Sumatra.
According to a statement received in Jakarta on Tuesday, Deputy Minister Rohmat Marzuki said the Ministry of Forestry has two principal tasks within the Task Force for the Acceleration of Post-Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra: timber clearance and facilitating land provision.
“The Ministry of Forestry has declared its readiness to facilitate the provision of land within forest areas if needed and proposed by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) or local governments. For temporary housing, the mechanism used is approval for the use of forest areas. Meanwhile, for permanent housing, the mechanism involves the release of forest areas in accordance with prevailing laws and regulations,” he said.
During a task force meeting held on Monday (23 February), the Deputy Minister said that no proposals for forest area locations for the construction of temporary or permanent housing had been received to date.
The Ministry of Forestry has received a letter from the Minister of Public Works regarding a request to use forest areas for timber stockpiling, the construction of sabo dams, raw water provision, as well as road and bridge works traversing forest areas.
He stated that these proposals would be processed promptly in accordance with regulations.
Regarding timber clearance, the Ministry of Forestry has issued a policy on the utilisation of driftwood to support post-disaster recovery and has established a Team for the Acceleration of Flood-Carried Timber Clearance in the three affected provinces. The team involves local governments, Ministry of Forestry regional technical units, as well as elements of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and the National Police.
One example of accelerated clearance was carried out along eight kilometres of Padang Beach in West Sumatra. Clearance operations were also conducted along the Garoga watershed in North Sumatra, at the Darul Mukhlisin Islamic Boarding School in Aceh Tamiang, and in Langkahan District, North Aceh Regency.
In Langkahan, approximately one million cubic metres of timber debris spread across roughly 36 hectares at five locations has been addressed.
In Geudembak Village, Langkahan District, the Ministry of Forestry has provided timber for the construction of temporary housing in collaboration with Rumah Zakat and Gadjah Mada University on construction engineering aspects. A total of 103 temporary housing units are planned for construction. To date, 66 units have been completed and 37 units are under construction.
Regarding the handling of timber accumulation at the Krueng Keuruto Dam in North Aceh Regency, the Ministry of Forestry is in principle ready to provide administrative support to ensure legal certainty for timber stockpiling sites originating from the disaster.