Plantation pays $1.1 million fine for burning land
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government and a Malaysian plantation company agreed on a US$1.1 million penalty, which the latter must pay for causing haze by illegally burning plantation land in Riau.
It is the first time such a deal has been negotiated between the government and a company.
State Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim described on Wednesday the agreement between the government and the Malaysian- based PT Adei Plantation as a win-win solution.
"The money can be used to finance reforestation, and the company will not go bankrupt because of the agreement," he told reporters. The agreement was signed last week.
Nabiel said the government was considering an appropriate place to carry out a US$ 1.1 million reforestation program.
"The program will not be located in PT Adei's plantation area, as the company is required to do its own replanting," he said.
The agreement was reached despite the Supreme Court upholding a ruling sentencing Adei's president director, a Malaysian national identified only as Goby, to eight months in prison and a Rp 100 million (about US$11,200) fine for the plantation fires.
Authorities at the Riau Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedalda) found 17 fires in Adei's plantation areas in 1999 and 2000.
Officials estimated fire had engulfed some 3,000 hectares of Adei's plantation land, worsening haze in Riau.
In early 2001, prosecutors took the case to court in the provincial capital Pekanbaru, demanding a four-year jail sentence for Adei's president director, Goby.
The Pekanbaru District Court found Goby guilty and sentenced him to two years in jail. Goby appealed against the verdict.
The Riau High Court then lowered his sentence to eight months and fined him Rp 100 million.
Prior to Adei's case, a coalition of 13 non-governmental organizations and community groups from North Sumatra had tried but failed to secure Rp 50 billion in compensation from various timber associations for fires they accused them of causing in 1997 and 1998. A high court overturned an earlier verdict requiring the associations to pay the Rp 50 billion.
The islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan often have to cope with haze during the dry season. Thick haze occurs in many provinces on the two islands as well as in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.
Besides natural causes, fire is often caused by locals or companies burning bushland, plantation or forest areas.
Burning plantation areas is prohibited under Law No. 23/1997 on the environment, but many locals and companies often choose to clear land with fire.