Most Indorayon land not suitable for pine trees

JAKARTA (JP): PT Inti Indorayon Utama told the House of Representatives (DPR) yesterday that of the 269,060-hectare timber estate concession it was granted in 1992, only 110,000 hectares is suitable for pine tree plantations.

Indorayon's Director Semion Tarigan told a hearing with the House that the 110,000-hectares were assessed as the most suitable for the development of timber estates to supply the company's pulp and rayon mills.

"We've conducted modern research on the most productive pine species that are suitable for the land," Tarigan said.

Indorayon got its first 86,000-hectare concession in 1984 and the second 269,060-hectares in 1992, both located near Lake Toba in North Sumatra.

The firm's pulp plant has an annual capacity of 220,000 tons and its rayon plant 65,000 tons. Both plants involved a total investment of Rp 870 billion (US$402 million).

"We're going to use the rest of our concession as a buffer zone and nature area," another Indorayon executive, Hasudungan Simamora said.

Simamora said that Indorayon had planted 54 million pine trees on 32,500 hectares since 1987.

"We cut one and plant thirteen," Tarigan claimed.

Indorayon, listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges, has been involved in a prolonged dispute with local communities over environmental issues.

Auditing

Last March the government appointed the U.S.-based Labat- Andersen consulting firm to audit Indorayon to see whether the management had applied financially-and-environmentally sound administration.

The auditing, the first done by an international company for an industrial plant in Indonesia, is still underway.

The president of Indorayon, Polar Yanto Tanoto, said that the management had tried its best to implement sustainable forest management.

Yanto said that prior to the establishment of Indorayon, most of the concessions were barren hills which often suffered bush fires.

The hearing, however, turned into a hot debate yesterday as more than a dozen legislators bombarded the visiting delegation with questions.

Legislator Robianto Koestomo said that he doubted the written report of Indorayon, adding that local people would not be offended if the company did nothing wrong.

The two Indorayon concessions are located in North Tapanuli, Simalungun, South Tapanuli and Karo regencies in North Sumatra.(09)