Bank Report Exposes Chaos at Central Kalimantan Mega-Project
11/1/98
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Title: Bank Report Exposes Chaos at Central Kalimantan Mega-Project
Source: Down to Earth
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 11/1/98
A World Bank report on the government's project to convert a million
hectares of peat swamp forests into rice-lands reveals how appalling the
situation on the ground is.
What comes out of the report is the project's total lack of planning and
failure to anticipate the economic, social and environmental costs. The
main activities so far - logging and burning to clear the land and digging
drainage canals - are turning the project into a disaster area. Unless the
government takes heed of the warnings and halts the project immediately
the disaster will grow much, much worse.
The report, written by a senior water resources engineer at the
Bank, Theodore Herman, was the result of a two-day field visit to the
project area in May at the request of the Public Works Miniister,
Rachmadi. The findings sent to the Minister include several important
recommendations which, if followed, would mean vastly reducing the scope
of the project, stopping further expansion and starting again from scratch
with planning, impact assessment and project costing.
The Central Kalimantan mega-project was launched by President
Suharto in 1995 as a means of securing Indonesia's self-sufficiency in
rice. The project aimed to settle as many as 316,000 transmigrant families
to cultivate the rice and other crops. From the outset, critics warned
that the project was impossible from an ecological point of view as
peatlands are unsuitable for growing rice. At the same time the
traditional, successful livelihoods of indigenous Dayak villagers were
being bulldozed out of existence. But Suharto had decreed that his pet
project would succeed and so nobody was allowed to contradict him. (For
further background see DTEs 29/30, 31, 35, 36 and 37).
Canals
A major point of concern in Herman's report is the fact that almost all
the primary canals are aligned over deep peat conservation areas and/or
medium peat soils. He warns that subsidence of the deep peat will occur
rapidly near the canals, compromising their drainage functions, while
becoming increasingly prone to fire. He advises:
"..the whole water supply system needs to be redesigned and made
compatible with soil and topographic constraints. It is not unlikely that
- to reverse the damage done - the major canals will have to be filled
in.."
Among the environmental impacts, the report identifies the need to
quantify the effect on rivers and estuaries of large quantities of acidic
water, agrochemicals and nutrients draining from the project area in the
dry season when the dilution effect of river flows is reduced. Herman
notes that "contrary to recommendation, there are reports that Gramoxone
(paraquat) has been distributed to farmers on a trial basis."* Also, an
insecticide, banned for use on rice has been made available to farmers.
The report warns of the impact of logging and the soil erosion it causes
on the functioning of the canals and flood control systems. It states that
no information was available about the damage to wildlife habitat caused
by the project and recommends that this should be assessed so that
endangered species can be relocated to other areas. Likewise, there was no
information on the impact on indigenous people. The report states:
"It is not clear whether the 1-3 km Greenbelt river corridor of the
project plan is adequate to accommodate their customary (adat) land use
rights for rattan gardening and the like. This should be ascertained and
appropriate and equitable provisions made to forestall future friction."
The argument that may persuade the government to call a halt to the
project more than any other is the economic one. Here the report is
forthright:
"At least Rp 1.5 trillion has been spent on the project to date?Redesign
of the project ?means an even greater expenditure than ever foreseen. At
the same time the agricultural area will be reduced to below 500,000 ha
while rice yields and agricultural economics are uncertain. No benefit-
cost engineering-economic and sensitivity analysis has been undertaken to
date, especially one that includes settlement and environmental mitigation
costs as well as other irreversible losses. GOI [Government of Indonesia]
owes itself such an analysis in order to determine the desirability of
further major expenditure on this project."
The report makes four main recommendations: cease further expansion and
re-evaluate the project; improve public relations and communication;
conduct revised environmental assessment; and intensify research and
recruit international technical expertise. (Source: Million Hectare
Swampland Project Field Visit Observations and Recommendations, Theodore
Herman, World Bank 31/5/98)
While some of these recommendations are more useful than others, the main
point is that the government should be persuaded to stop further
destruction in Central Kalimantan and concentrate on repairing the damage
caused so far. There is much repair work to be done: apart from
environmental rehabilitation, the needs of the 13,500 transmigrants
already placed on the project must be addressed and the lands and
livelihoods of indigenous villagers restored to them.
* This pesticide is produced by Zeneca, the UK-based agro-chemicals and
pharmaceuticals multinational. Down to Earth has written to Zeneca to
enquire about its involvement in the mega-project. The company replied
that it has no direct involvement in the project, but confirmed that it
owns almost all of Zeneca Indonesia (which very definitely is involved in
the project).
Villagers stage protest in Palangkaraya
Communities whose lives have been wrecked by the mega-project staged an
occupation of local government offices in the provincial capital
Palangkaraya in August. Over a hundred and twenty people from 12 villages
arrived on August 26th to present five demands to the government. The
government has made little response to the demands and states that the
central government, not the local authority is responsible for the mega-
project.
Supported by students and NGOs, the villagers refused to leave the
offices for over a week. Their demands are: the project must be stopped;
the land must be returned to its rightful owners in the community; all
damage caused by the project must be repaired; due compensation must be
paid to the local community; individuals who have demanded illegal
payments from prospective local settlers must be investigated.
The students, NGOs and community organisations have formed a
Solidarity Alliance for the Victims of the Swamp Forest Rice Mega-Project
and have set up a community post to distribute aid to the protesters. The
Alliance has appealed for contributions to fund their work to support the
mega-project victims. Further details from .
Text box: The government's solution: oil palm
While ministers ponder how best to extricate the government from the
mega-mess in Kalimantan at the minimum cost to balance sheet and dignity,
one solution that has been put forward is oil palm. Speaking in September,
transmigration minister Hendropriyono said the project would no longer be
directed at food production, but at oil palm plantations. He hoped that
foreign investors would be attracted so that foreign exchange would be
brought into the country fast, but said only one investor - from Japan -
had shown interest so far. (Suara Pembaruan 17/9/98)
Oil palm, which fetches high prices on international markets at the moment
is being promoted as a relatively fast means of earning dollars and so
rescuing Indonesia's economy. Unlike other crops, it does also grow in
some areas of peat. It is already being developed over large areas in
other parts of Kalimantan as well as other islands. [end box]
Stop press damage limitation?
As we went to press, reports from Indonesian NGO sources suggested that
the project is indeed to be drastically reduced in scale. Around 50,000
hectares of land already cleared plus the transmigration areas are still
to be "developed". Further opening of the project area is to be stopped,
although it is not yet clear what will happen to the drainage canals
already dug across the peat.
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Carolyn Marr (dte@gn.apc.org)