Jakarta – The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) has denied that 3.3 million hectares of oil palm plantations in Indonesia are illegally located at forest areas.
GAPKI Chairman Eddy Martono made a clarification on the government’s statement that the 3.3 million Ha oil palm acreage has to be legalized. “Actually, the oil palm plantations found by the government at forest areas have been legalized with land cultivation rights (HGU),” he said during a workshop of journalists in Bandung on Wednesday, 23 August 2023.
He said that there is an impression that the 3.3 million Ha of oil palm plantations have incurred a state loss of trillions of rupiah. “In fact, it’s not the case as the plantations have their own licenses. Such statement needs correction. There shouldn’t be an impression that the palm oil industry has incurred a financial loss of trillions of rupiah to the state,” said Eddy.
According to him, based on the government regulation (PP) No.40/1996 on land cultivation rights (HGU), building rights (HGB), land use rights (HPAT), the land sites that can be granted with HGU are those of state lands.
Then based on its article 4 verse (1) and verse (2), the land sites that can be granted with HGU include the forest areas. It rules that in the case that the lands to be granted with the HGU are state lands that listed as forest areas, then the HGU can be given after the certain lands are delisted from their status as forest areas and released for commercial purposes.
Based on data from GAPKI, of the total 3.3 million Ha oil palm plantation areas only 1.9 million Ha that had already had the forest release certificates from the ministry of environment and forestry. The other areas of 1.4 million Ha are still in the process of getting such certificates from the government.
Eddy Martono said that GAPKI member companies have followed the direction of Maritime and Investment Coordinating Minister (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Panjaitan to report the condition of their plantation concessions to the Palm Oil Task Force (Satgas Sawit), which was set up by the government with the aim to improve the governance of Indonesia’s palm oil industry and optimize state income from the economic sector.
As of 03 August 2023, a total of 1,870 palm oil companies have reported their plantation concessions and related licenses to the website of SIPERIBUN, a self-reporting mechanism under the supervision of the Satgas Sawit, which is led by Minister Luhut Panjaitan. GAPKI has promised to comply with the government regulation by implementing the self-reporting mechanism through the SEPERIBUN system during the period of 23 August until 08 September 2023. (*)
Source: cnnindonesia.com
