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)