Two provinces closed to new plantations

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)