TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The government of President Joko Widodo or Jokowi has started a project to improve sugarcane self-sufficiency in Merauke, South Papua covering an area of 2.29 million hectares. In fact, Jokowi has launched this program for a long time, which was implemented through Presidential Decree No. 40 of 2023
This regulation governs the release of additional sugar cane land covering an area of 700 thousand hectares in Merauke. Then, Jokowi appointed the Minister of Investment, then Bahlil Lahadalia, as head of the task force to oversee the construction of a sugar cane plantation and bioethanol factory covering an area of 1.11 million hectares in Merauke. This is stated in Presidential Decree No. 15 of 2024 regarding the Task Force for the Acceleration of Sugar and Bioethanol Self-Sufficiency in Merauke Regency.
News of the rice field and sugar cane food estate megaproject in Merauke started circulating in June 2024. At that time, a heavy equipment manufacturer from China called Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd issued a press release regarding the purchase of 2,000 mining units by PT Jhonlin Group – a mining company owned by Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad or known as Haji Isam. The heavy equipment will reportedly be used to clear 1.18 million hectares of agricultural land.
As a result of this self-sufficiency project in Merauke, hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest in South Papua were completely cleared to be razed to the ground, to open up new agricultural land. Based on reports Tempo Newspaper titled, “Share the Ten Sugar Kings at Food Estate,” he said the food estate program even stretches across 19 of the 22 districts in Merauke.
For the sugarcane project, a researcher from the Center for Regional Analysis, Planning and Development, Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), Selamet Kusdaryanto, said that his institution was nominated by the Ministry of Investment together with PT Global Papua Abadi to strategic livelihood preparation environmental study (KLHS).
“Our study is mainly for sugar cane plantations in cluster 3 with an area of about 600 thousand hectares,” said Selamet Tempo on September 16, 2024.
At the same time, PT Global Papua Abadi appointed PT Myesha Shafiyah Gemilang (MSG) as subcontractor to clear landfront-end in Village of Sermayam Indah, Tanah Miring District as a sub-contractor of PT Global Papua Abadi. “We are subcontractors for PT Global Papua Abadi which is tasked with clearing the forest land here,” PT MSG supervisor Julianto said when met. Tempo on September 4, 2024.
Minute Tempo visited the PT Global Papua Abadi concession on September 4, at least a 12.51 kilometer stretch of forest – the access road built by the company – has been razed to the ground. To the left and to the right, fields are created, leaving stones of logs and branches.
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MSG itself was tasked with balancing natural forests in the concession area. Logs of various sizes, some larger than two or three adult arms, were felled with heavy equipment. The scattered tree trunks were collected to form a sweeping array.
On the other hand, the KLHS documents for sugarcane plantations were obtained Tempo reviewing the plans of PT Global Papua Abadi together with two other companies in the consortium in group 1. They will prepare 34 thousand hectares of land as a sugar cane plantation and a sugar cane factory with a milling capacity of 80 thousand tons per day.
This factory produces sugar, compressed natural gas (CNG) from residual biogas, biogas, and ethanol distillation. The document also states that PT Global Papua Abadi has had a business license covering an area of 34,626 hectares since 2014.
Read more: “Share the Ten Sugar Kings at Food Estate,”
Avit Hidayat and Vindry Florentin contributed to the writing of this article.
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2024-09-24 11:06:27
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