Soeharto denounces critics on Kalimantan peat project

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto denied yesterday that the government's project to convert one million hectares of peat moss land in Central Kalimantan into rice producing areas was a haphazard decision.

The project is meant to compensate for the conversion of agricultural areas on Java into housing complexes, industrial estates and highways, Soeharto said.

The project is aimed to guarantee food security and the country's self-sufficiency in rice, he said. Indonesia first reached rice self-sufficiency in 1984, but returned to importing rice in late 1994 after bad weather destroyed domestic harvests.

"Frankly speaking, this is not a haphazard decision, but based on very strong reason," Soeharto said in an off-the-cuff meeting with farmers at the project site in Lamunti, Kapuas, Central Kalimantan.

"This is not a matter of whether we had the guts (to do the project) or not, but it's for the interest of our nation, not only now, but for the future," he said.

The Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) has repeatedly called on the government to reconsider the megaproject, saying it is off-target and threatens the environment.

Walhi said recently that Kalimantan was not suitable for a food development project. Opening the land would also threaten the natural environment, including the habitat of orangutans and proboscis monkeys.

President Soeharto was confident the project would benefit the people, and vowed to prove the government was correct in its decision.

Farmers, who have just received their land title directly from the President, thanked him for providing them better living conditions. "Now we have our own house and land, Pak," the farmers told Soeharto.

The project, launched in February last year, involves converting one million hectares of peat land in Central Kalimantan into 638,000 hectares of rice fields. The remaining 362,000 hectares are to be used for horticulture, plantations, conservation areas, housing and reservoirs.

Earlier reports said the megaproject would cost Rp 5 trillion (US$2.1 billion). PT Sumatera Timur Indonesia, a subsidiary of the Sambu Group, was appointed by the government to develop the area.

Soeharto said the project would be financed by the country's reforestation funds, but he did not elaborate.

The company has succeeded in developing a peat area project in Riau, according to the President. "Their success in Riau can be implemented in Kalimantan, too," he said.

"The peat moss land should really be a source of livelihood, but we all have to struggle because we're challenged... by those who don't believe in this project," he said.

Soeharto promised to prioritize the local people in the development.

The government plans to resettle Dayak farmers in Kalimantan and people from densely populated Java to the new agricultural land.

The government has settled 3,000 volunteer transmigrants in the newly opened peat moss land in fiscal 1996/1997, while another 20,000 families are being resettled in 1997/1998, mostly from Java. Each transmigrant family receives Rp 5 million (US$2,174) from the government. (06)