Task Force Head Tito's Affirmation Boosts Utilisation of Driftwood by 111 Percent

Tito Karnavian’s statement as Chairman of the Task Force for Accelerating Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (PRR) serves as an affirmation that the utilisation of driftwood from the flash floods in Sumatra at the end of 2025 is already on track. The cleaning and utilisation efforts have dramatically increased by 111 percent in early April.

In a press release on Friday, 3 April 2026, Tito stated that the PRR Task Force has designed the utilisation of this wood for construction materials for housing needs up to the industrial sector. “It can also be used by residents to build houses, please do so,” he said.

Tito also emphasised that parts of the driftwood that are small in size and less economical should, as much as possible, be utilised by local governments to become original local revenue (PAD). For example, utilised as materials for making bricks or fuel for power plants. “The mechanism (through) cooperation and the income becomes PAD,” said Tito.

This policy is based on Ministerial Decree of the Ministry of Forestry Number 191 of 2026 at the end of February, which allows the use of round wood to wood waste (debris) from flood remnants to be converted into boards and building materials.

This regulation cuts long bureaucratic licensing in forestry by giving full authority to regents or mayors in affected areas to conduct inventories and distribution of wood without needing to apply for new logging permits. The wood is declared as state assets managed for disaster emergency interests.

As a result, in several affected areas, the wood is not only cleaned from river flows but has begun to be processed into building materials for temporary housing to repairs of residents’ houses.

In North Aceh, several residents have taken the driftwood and processed it into house building materials independently, replacing old homes damaged by floods. “This wood is very helpful to us. Rather than left alone, it’s better used to build houses,” said one resident, Rasyidin, as quoted from NU Online, 4 April 2026.

Local governments also have authority to regulate the use of driftwood. For example, the Padang City Government collects cleaning results and will utilise them for repairing disaster-affected infrastructure.

This utilisation is seen as accelerating the provision of housing amid emergency conditions, while also optimising available materials in the field. The policy also becomes a practical solution to the accumulation of wood that previously clogged river flows and worsened flood effects.

The impact of this policy is immediately visible in the field. In just three weeks since mid-March 2026, the volume of driftwood utilisation skyrocketed to 111 percent. In the latest report, 5 April 2026, the total wood converted into construction materials has reached 5,103.72 cubic metres. A drastic increase compared to the report on 16 March which only recorded 2,419 cubic metres.

Interestingly, Aceh is the province with the largest utilisation volume, namely 2,684.51 cubic metres. North Aceh manages 1,132.40 cubic metres, while Aceh Tamiang is 1,552.11 cubic metres. This wood is directly transformed into materials for building Temporary Housing (Huntara) for refugees in both areas.

In the two regencies, cleaning focuses on the Darul Mukhlisin Islamic Boarding School area in Aceh Tamiang, and Langkahan in North Aceh, with a cleaning area of 32 hectares, involving dozens of personnel and heavy equipment.

Meanwhile, in West Sumatra, physical cleaning progress has reached nearly perfect, namely 99 percent. From a total of 1,996.58 cubic metres of wood collected in Padang City, all materials have been handed over to the local government to be managed for accelerating infrastructure recovery.

North Sumatra recorded a total utilisation volume of 422.63 cubic metres. Priority cleaning of driftwood takes place in the Batangtoru and Garoga River Basin Areas (DAS), with details of 173.63 cubic metres in South Tapanuli and 249 cubic metres in Central Tapanuli. In both areas, disaster remnant wood is allocated for building Public Facilities (Fasum) and direct repairs to residents’ homes.

The success in achieving the utilisation target of more than 5,000 cubic metres in a short time is inseparable from massive collaboration in the field. In West Sumatra alone, around 250 combined personnel from TNI, Polri, SOEs, and the community worked together to clean and utilise the wood using 9 units of heavy equipment and 10 dump trucks.