Salim Group accepts govt's penalty

JAKARTA (JP): The Salim Group will accept the decision of the Minister of Forestry to cancel its license to convert 570,000 hectares of forests into plantation areas, the group's president, Anthony Salim, says.

"We will abide by the government's decision," he told reporters after meeting with Director General of Forest Inventory and Utilization Titus Sarijanto here yesterday.

Minister of Forestry Djamaloedin Soeryohadikoesoemo has canceled the Salim Group's license due to the fact the group never began operations in the designated area since the concession was awarded in 1990.

Anthony said all of his companies will obey the government's decisions. An affiliate of his group, PT Alam Nusa Segar (ANS), for example, temporarily ceased operation at its forest concession area on Yamdena island in Maluku when the government told it to cease production several months ago.

The government decided to temporarily stop the operation of ANS on Yamdena after a series of protests from various parties. The protests were a response to surveys saying that their logging activities might ultimately cause the 535-hectare island to sink. The company resumed operation after research showed that there was nothing dangerous about logging activities on the island.

Djamaloedin said yesterday that the Riau forest area, allocated for the Salim Group, may not be converted to other uses because half of it is a preservation forest.

According to regulations on biodiversity preservation and its ecosystem, preservation forests may not be converted for other purposes.

The Salim Group originally planned to convert the area into plantations for soybean, sugar cane and industrial woods.

According to the Ministry of Forestry, 30 million hectares of forests will be converted into plantations or locations for transmigration. But up until now, 21 million hectares of them have not been converted. (yns)