Two provinces closed to new plantations

JAKARTA (JP): North Sumatra and Riau provinces have been closed off to new plantation developments to prevent a further decline in forest areas, it was announced yesterday.

Minister of Forestry and Plantations Sumahadi said existing plantation companies in the two provinces have also been banned from expanding their land parcels.

New investment in the plantation sector will be directed to the country's eastern provinces where land resources are still abundant, he said.

"Forests areas in North Sumatra and Riau has almost been fully utilized. It is better and commercially more viable for new investors to open plantations in eastern Indonesia," the minister said during his first news conference.

The ministry and other related offices such as the Investment Coordinating Board will soon issue directives for the closing off of the two provinces to new plantation projects, he said.

Sumahadi, the former director general of inventory and forest land use, said several other provinces in Sumatra would be out of bounds for new plantation projects.

He said the ministry, which currently supervises the directorate general of plantations -- formerly under the ministry of agriculture -- would simplify the licensing procedures to open up plantations in eastern Indonesia.

"But the licenses will be given only to investors who want to develop idle land, not in areas close to protected forests and national park."

Sumahadi said the government would also revoke licenses of plantation companies, which have not started their projects within two years of the issuing of the license.

The ministry has converted 3.4 million hectares of forest into plantation areas, 2.4 million of which have been developed into palm oil estates, he said. The remaining one million hectares has been neglected.

He also said the ministry would issue related directives for plantations and timber companies to develop agroforestry programs. (gis)