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)