Vegetable plantation threatens city

BOGOR: The plan of a private company to turn a former tea plantation in South Cisarua into a vegetable plantation could endanger the city because the area, covering 300 hectares of land in the Puncak mountainous resort, would not be able to function as a water catchment area to protect Jakarta from floods.

Head of the local National Land Agency, Hadi Priyatna, revealed on Wednesday that PT Mamapapa had applied for a permit from the regency administration to use the land as a vegetable plantation.

Hadi, who visited the location last week, said that the area that is located on a hillside should not be planted with vegetables. Otherwise, it would not be able to sustain its function as a catchment area. He also said that it might result in soil erosion. --JP