Weighing up privatization of Komodo National Park
Weighing up privatization of Komodo National Park
The Ministry of Forestry in Jakarta is keeping many interest
groups waiting anxiously.
It is reviewing a request by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), an
independent American environmental non-governmental organization
(NGO), which became involved in conservation in Komodo in 1995,
to hand over management of Komodo National Park to a private
company.
The company, PT Putri Naga Komodo, is jointly owned by TNC (60
percent) and hotel magnate Malaysia-born Feisol Hashim (40
percent). Together they want to manage the park for 25 years.
Park chief Matheus H. Halim acknowledges that the bottom line
in the disputed collaboration concerns money.
The cash-strapped government has learned that without adequate
funding, it would be powerless to handle lawlessness -- poaching
of komodo, deer and boar, dynamite fishing and theft of other
priceless park resources.
"The park belongs to the world, so what's wrong with involving
an international NGO that can generate money to finance its
conservation?" he says.
TNC officials insist that private professional management is
necessary to market the park as an international ecotourist haven
to generate the money needed to conserve its unique habitat.
"We need marketing savvy from a professional business
partner," says Rili Djohani, TNC director in charge of Komodo
National Park.
"All proceeds from the venture will go toward conservation and
we will withdraw as soon as the park is financially self-
reliant," she says.
Among TNC's plans is the raising of the entrance fee to US$30
from the current $2; it could be further increased when the
facility is better equipped. This will be still lower than the
$100 visitor entry fee to Galapagos park in Ecuador, with which
Komodo also cooperates.
Another source that TNC anticipates is revenue from sales of
Komodo merchandising. Currently, merchandise is sold by hawkers
under the trees at the entrance to Komodo.
Tourist arrivals at Komodo have fallen drastically since 1997,
when the economic crisis began to bite. Official figures released
by the park show that arrivals declined from 32,174 to 19,338 in
1999. Numbers continued to drop, from 10,955 in 2001 to a mere
988 last year. About 90 percent of visitors come from overseas.
This year, arrivals are expected to decline even further due to
the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) scare.
TNC has allocated $800,000 (about Rp 7 billion) for the
conservation of Komodo this year, according to Rili. If its
request is approved, PT Putri Naga would invest about $2 million
per year on ecotourism-related activity.
"The company would be audited every year. The World Bank will
support the project," Djohani says.
TNC hopes that the park will become self-sufficient from
tourism revenue and other user fees in about seven years,
although it acknowledges that it will be a tough target due to
various problems that have hit the tourism industry hard, such as
the Bali bombings, war in Iraq and SARS.
"For now we are committed to capitalizing the long-term
financing plan with US$10 million over a period of 7 years to 10
years, pending agreement from the forestry ministry," Djohani
said.
"These agreements will provide a structural solution for the
park; without this plan TNC will not be able to sustain its
funding for Komodo and will have to develop a contingency plan,"
she added. She declined to elaborate on what the plan might
involve.
The proposed involvement of a private company has met strong
objection from interest groups, notably local NGOs, fishermen
from other areas fearful of losing fishing grounds and tour
operators worried that PT Putri Komodo would eventually
monopolize the leisure business in Komodo.
Opposition has also come from Mesa islanders, who live on a
tiny island within the national park. They argue that TNC and the
park management have robbed them of their ancestral rights to
fish much of the park's waters.
A spate of incidents involving security officers and fishermen
on the high seas over the past few years has painted a bleak
picture regarding collaboration between the government and TNC.
The best-known incident occurred last year when police shot
and killed two of a group of people suspected of fishing using
bombs in the Flores Sea within the park.
The park has been divided into usage zones. Fishing is allowed
in nonrestricted areas, but only nondestructive equipment is
permitted.
Critics say that the 25-year concession proposed by TNC could
lead to permanent, exclusive rights, akin to forest concession
rights responsible for the destruction of so much of Indonesia's
forests.
Park chairman Halim dismisses fears that Indonesia would lose
control of the park if TNC's request were eventually granted.
"The government would retain control (over the park) while the
private sector would be in charge of marketing it," he said. "We
badly need someone who can make money (for management of the
park)." -- Pandaya