RI gets Rp25b grant for forestry project

RI gets Rp25b grant for forestry project

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo
on Tuesday signed a new joint Indonesia-European Commission
project on sustainable forest management worth Rp 25 billion
(around US$14 million) in Berau, East Kalimantan.

"The outcome of the Berau project, which will also focus on
social aspects and involve the participation of the local
communities, will become the reference for future forestry
development in this country," Djamaludin told reporters following
the signing ceremony.

The ceremony at the Foresty Ministry was also attended by
Ambassador Klauspeter Schmallenbach, the European Union (EU)'s
head of representation in Indonesia and the Ambassador Thierry de
Beauce of France which at present holds the EU presidency and the
World Bank resident director, Denis de Tray.

Schmallenbach said yesterday that EU's grant to the Berau
project will be spread over the next six years.

The 100,000 hectare project, he said, will be carried out by
the state-owned PT Inhutani I, France-based forestry research
group CIRAD-Forest and the Ministry of Forestry, which will
provide around Rp 15 billion to the project.

On Monday, the EU granted Indonesia US$40 million, spread over
seven years, to help forest conservation under the Leuser
development program in Aceh in the northernmost part of Sumatra.

Djamaludin also said yesterday that the Berau project will
serve as a pilot project for the government's attempt to change
the current HPH concessionary system into the KPHP system, which
is meant to be more sustainable.

Officials have said that a KPHP concession, in contrast to the
HPH, is designed to be a permanent production forest with an
average area of 100,000 hectares and managed on a long-term basis
by a permanent concessionaire. (hdj)