JAKARTA – The Ministry of Agrarian and Spatial Planning /National Land Agency (ATR/BPN) has ensured the legality of cultivation rights (HGU) given to Indonesia’s oil palm plantation areas.
David Cristhian, Coordinator of Substance at HGU Issuance Sub-directorate of the ATR/BPN, said the basic requirement for the issuance of HGU certificate by ATR/BPN is the location is not inside forest areas.
“From the beginning, the process of issuing the HGU is to make sure that the locations to be certified must be outside forest areas. It is determined by a team whose members include those from forestry institutions,” David told the participants of a public discussion on palm oil governance on Friday, 13 October 2023.
According to him, the process of giving the HGU for land sites to be developed as oil palm plantations always involve all related stakeholders. In the process all business players should provide all necessary requirements in a comprehensive procedure from upstream to downstream. “If they fail to provide all requirements, they won’t get their HGU certificates,” he said.
It is the same case if the proposed locations are found located in forest areas. “If it is in forest areas, then ATR/BPN will not issue HGU for the land sites,” he said.
He said that ATR/BPN will continue to discuss and coordinate the HGU issues with the Palm Oil Task Force (Satgas Sawit) to clarify the legal status of HGU given to certain growers whose plantations claimed to have encroached forest areas. Satgas Sawit was set up by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in April 2023 with the aim to improve the governance of palm oil industry and optimize the state income from the industry.
“During the process of getting the HGU, the land sites had been designated as what is legally termed as APL or areas for other uses, which are excluded from forest areas,” he said.
According to him, areas categorized as APL are those located outside of designated forest areas, which will be appropriated for development of various business projects.
“We regularly hold discussions with Satgas Sawit to clarify the legal status of plantations claimed in forest areas. We’ve always ensured that the land sites to be certified with HGU are not located in forest areas,” he said. (*)
Source: regional.kontan.co.id
