The Building of PT. OKI Pulp and Paper Mills; Threat to the Indonesian Forest and the People’s Safety.

Logyark PT. Rimba Hutani Mas di Musi Banyuasin

South Sumatra has 3.7 million hectares of forest, and right now, the part in good condition is only approximately 800 thousand hectares. One of the Forest Damages is caused by the development of Industrial Plant Forest (HTI). Based on the data of South Sumatra Forestry Service in 2012, the width of HTI in South Sumatra is 1,375,312 hectares that is controlled by 19 Companies. From which, only 944,205 hectares are effective for the primary plant.

Apart from the previously mentioned issue, this year, the Government of South Sumatra is planning to build 2 Pulp and Paper Mills Factories in Musi Banyuasin Regency and Ogan Komering Ilir Regency.

One of the factories that will be built is PT. OKI PULP and PAPER MILLS, which is a company with 100 percent foreign capital (The letter of BKPM No 361/1/IP/PMA/2012 concerning the license of Capital Investment Principle of PT.OKI Pulp and Paper Mills). According to the plan, it will be built in Jadi Mulya Village, Air Sugihan District, Ogan Komering Ilir Regency with the width reaching 2,800 hectares, 200 hectares of which is for the harbor.

In the document of Environmental Impact Analysis (AMDAL), which is being discussed and will be stipulated by Amdal Commission of South Sumatra Province, it is said that this Pulp Mills management factory will produce pulp as much as 2,000,000 ton/year, with the need of raw material reaching at least 8.6 million tons/year.

The huge need of timber supply based on our analysis will not be able to be met by HTI around the factory, owned by Sinar Mas, including by 7 companies owned by SINAR MAS Group in South Sumatra (MUBA, OKI, and Banyuasin) with the width reaching 787,955 hectares. The assumption is only 40 % or 472,773 hectares of the land is productive to be planted by acacia. According to the calculation that we did, for the need of 8.6 million of timber/year, this factory needs 2,064,000 ha of land.[1]

The impact will be license expansion of HTI massively and the damage of the remaining South Sumatra Natural Forest. There is a chance that this expansion will spread to another provinces, which actually also experienced lack of timber supply to meet their factory need, for example in Riau Province with the condition of HTI, which is wider from South Sumatra, the Pulp and Paper Factory of PT. IKPP (sinar Mas group) and PT. RAPP (APRIL Group) with the capacity of 2,000,000 tons/year still need timber supply that they obtain timber supply from Riau natural forest.

On the other hand, the building of this factory is also forecasted to increase agrarian conflict in South Sumatra, which continually experiences an increase each year. While in fact, until now, the building of HTI by the subsidiary of Sinar Mas Group is never free of conflict between the society and the company, similar to the land conflict between the society of Riding Village vs. PT. Bumi Mekar Hijau concerning 10,000 hectares of land, the society conflict of Gajah Mati Village vs. PT. Bumi Mekar Hijau concerning 4,000 hectares of land, the society conflict of Gajah Mati Village vs. PT. Bumi Persada Permai concerning 500 hectares of land. Apart from the agrarian conflict between the society and the company, there is also the case of the natural forest destruction of Merang Kepayang by PT. Rimba Hutani Mas (RHM), which is situated in Musi Banyuasin. Until now, it is still voiced by Walhi Sumsel and WBH Palembang.

Based on some things that we have elaborated previously, we, from the Coalition of Civil Society for Forest Rescue and People’s Safety stated to the government of South Sumatra and OKI Regency to:

1. Stop the building of PT. OKI Pulp and Paper Mills in Ogan Komering Ilir Regency and the Pulp and Paper Mills in the other Regencies in South Sumatra Province. The reason is that it will threaten the preservation of the forest and the safety of the society, especially in South Sumatra.
2. Stop the expansion of HTI license in South Sumatera, because it has contributed to the Damage of the Natural Forest in South Sumatra.

Palembang, November 2012

THE COALITION OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY FOR FOREST RESCUE AND PEOPLE’S SAFETY

Dto,

(Walhi Sumsel, Wahana Bumi Hijau(WBH) Sumsel, Sarekat Hijau Indonesia (SHI) Sumsel, CAPPA, TI-I, Mahasiswa Hijau Indonesia)

Contact Person:

Anwar Sadat Walhi Sumsel       : 0812 785 5725

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[1] If 1 tons of pulp needs 4.5 m cubic of timber, to fulfill 2,000,000 tons of pulp each year, 9,000,000 cubic of timber is needed. The company calculated 8,600,000 meter cubic. If 1 hectare of land produces 25 cubic of timber, to obtain 8,600,000 cubic of raw material, 344,000 ha land/year is needed, which means it has to be cut down/harvested. With the cycle of acacia that reach 6 years, to guarantee that the company does not lack the raw material, a minimum of 344,000 ha x 6 years = 2,064,000 ha of land has to be available.

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