Ministry vows to protect C. Java limestone caves

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry is to remain firm in its efforts to preserve the limestone-rich forest land in Gombong, Central Java, and is against a plan to turn the area into a quarry for a proposed cement plant.

Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said yesterday that his decision is the same as that of former forestry minister Soedjarwo.

"As long as the plan involves the 287 hectares of forest land in that area, the ministry will maintain its stance. The karst ecosystem in question must be preserved and the forests will not be converted," he asserted.

Djamaludin was responding to recent reports stating that PT Semen Gombong had conducted a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a cement plant in Gombong in spite of disapproval from the Ministry of Forestry.

Semen Gombong's plan to build a plant in Gombong was first reported in 1985. However, the plan was held back by the-then forestry minister Soedjarwo, who said the karst caves in the area were too valuable to be used to make cement.

Soedjarwo, quoting studies by a number of speleologists including those from the International Union of Speleology and various universities, said the limestone caves were not only beautifully carved with stalactites and stalagmites but also contained many underground lakes and rivers which could provide huge water supplies for surrounding industrial estates.

The studies also stated that the limestone area, which was estimated to have been shaped some 20 million years ago, was an invaluable asset for science as well as for the tourism industry.

According to reports in 1985, Semen Gombong planned to build a cement factory with an investment of Rp 400 billion (US$173.91 million at the current rate). Production was expected to start in 1995 or 1996 with a capacity of 1.5 million tons a year.

The company said it required 1,000 hectares of land, of which 287 were forests managed by the state-owned Perum Perhutani forestry firm.

Last October, Semen Gombong submitted a letter to the Ministry of Forestry, asking to acquire the land in question from Perhutani.

But the ministry's research and development agency recently reconfirmed earlier studies and recommended that the area should remain undisturbed.

The agency also felt that if a cement plant was to be built, a social, economic and environmental assessment by an independent body must be conducted to ascertain its feasibility.

Djamaludin said yesterday that Semen Gombong should look for karst deposits in other locations where the population density and social, environmental and even political impacts were lower.

The ministry, he said, was now waiting for the office of the Minister of Environment's Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) to conduct site studies in the area.

"Whether or not the cement factory will be built is none of our business...That will be handled by Bapedal, which has a responsibility to the country. We only want to make sure that the 287 hectares of forests we manage remain as they are," he said.

"I understand that the cement industry is an important one and that we must support it. But we want to have a sustainable type of development, so we must think of ways to develop without disturbing the environment," Djamaludin added.

He said that based on recent studies by his office, it was discovered that many local people have not agreed to sell their land to Semen Gombong.

The region, he said, has also been declared a protected area and stipulated as one of the country's three National Karst Parks and a world heritage site. The other parks are the Jaya Wijaya range in Irian Jaya and the Maros mountains in South Sulawesi. (pwn)