Timber estate developed

Timber estate developed

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned PT Inhutani III and its joint
venture partners, Indonesia's PT Gudang Garam and Enso-Gutzeit of
Finland, will cultivate another 5,000 hectares of trees in West
Kalimantan next year, an executive said yesterday.

The planting will form part of a timber estate project which
will develop a total of 100,000 ha of fast growing trees,
Inhunati's Director for Development Hary Santjoko said.

"Around 3,000 ha have been planted with acacia mangio and
eucalyptus seedlings supplied by Ciero, an Australian plantation
company," he said.

Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said the
plantation project is aimed at improving the ecosystem of barren
land and at developing an alternative source of raw materials for
the timber and pulp industries.

"The total investment in the plantation project in Sangau and
Sintang regencies will reach Rp 263 billion (US$111.72 million),"
Santjoko said.

Inhutani holds 40 percent of the joint venture, while PT
Gudang Garam, a major cigarette manufacturer, and Enso-Gutzeit,
one of the three largest forestry companies in Europe, each hold
30 percent.

"This is the first joint venture in timber plantations done by
Inhutani III with a foreign company," Santjoko said.

He said the timber estates are designed to feed a pulp plant,
with an annual capacity of 500,000 tons, which will be built next
year.

Inhutani, however, will own only 10 percent of the pulp plant
project while Gudang Garam and Enso-Gutzeit will together hold
the remaining 90 percent, he said.

The Inhutani-Gudang Garam-Enso timber estate project was
started in 1995. (06)