Soeharto wants tougher control on land use
Soeharto wants tougher control on land use
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto wants stricter control of land use and ownership to prevent further reduction of the country's agricultural areas due to land conversion.
"Land must not become an object for speculation, nor a means for maximizing profits," he said in the keynote speech at the opening of a workshop for the National Land Agency yesterday.
The opening ceremony at the State Palace was attended by more than 300 senior officials, including State Minister of Agrarian Affairs Soni Harsono, who also chairs the land agency, Minister of Public Works Radinal Moochtar and State Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tandjung.
"Nobody has the legal right to own or control an excessive amount of land," the President said, while remarking that based on the constitution, land is the property of the state.
"The government must plan in such a way that land is used for the welfare of the people," he said.
Soeharto also said there is a need to set and enforce the maximum limit of ownership of agricultural and urban land.
He called on officials at all levels to prevent the conversion of irrigated fertile land, especially rice fields, to other non- agricultural purposes.
Stricter land control is required to protect national food production, which might be affected by land conversion, he added.
"We must carefully plan our land affairs because, in the age of growing private investment, more land will be demanded by the private sector," the President said.
Soeharto's remarks came not long after the Ministry of Agriculture announced that the construction of new property and industrial facilities consumes about 38,000 hectares of fertile land annually in Java, Indonesia's main rice growing area.
The agriculture ministry also said that every year 50,000 hectares of land productive enough to grow rice are converted for non-agricultural purposes throughout the country.
Soeharto also said yesterday that the country should strive to maintain its status of self-sufficiency in rice, which was achieved in 1984, by safeguarding highly productive rice fields.
Indonesia's rice production declined substantially last year. Although prolonged drought was mostly to blame, increasing land conversion was also responsible.
In a related land control development, the government announced a ban last week on the construction of plants outside of industrial estates located in the Tangerang area of West Java. (hdj)