Malaysian Investors To Open Oil-palm Plantations In Papua

Whilst there are no orangutans in Papua, there are fabulous rainforests full of wildlife and countless species yet to be discovered. So, we can see below, as the Malaysian government and palm oil companies spend a fortune on dining and wining EC and British government officials, telling them that Malaysia is protecting the environment, all the time these same people are doing deals that actually destroy the environment.

September 25, 2008 10:12 AM

Malaysian Investors To Open Oil-palm Plantations In Papua

JAYAPURA, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- A number of Malaysian joint ventures recently sent their experts to Nabire in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua, to study the potentials of the region for development of oil-palm plantations.

The chairman of the Nabire district legislative assembly, Daniel Butu, confirmed here on Wednesday that the investors planned to develop a large-scale plantation.

Quoting Antara news agency, the experts have also come to study the possibility of setting up a factory in the region to process crude palmoil into finished products.

Butu said the district assembly members welcomed the plan hoping that it would create employment and opportunities for the people in the region to improve their welfare.

He said no memorandum of understanding had been signed so far because the results of the study still had yet to be presented to the district head and the assembly.

"The distric legislative assembly supports any company wishing to develop the people of Nabire including the Malaysian companies," he said.He said he hoped however that the companies would not only set up plants for crude process like several domestic and foreign companies that had developed oil palm plantations in Papua and West Papua.

"We hope these investors would also set up factories that would process the raw materials into finished products such as soap, cooking oil and other cosmetic materials," he added.According to data, since 1980/1981 PT Perkebunan Nusantara II Tanjung Morawa, North Sumatra, had developed thousands of hectares of oilpalm plantations in Arso in the regency of Keerom and in Prafi in the regency of Manokwari in West Papua.

PT Sinar Mas Group meanwhile has since 1994/1995 developed thousands of hectares of oilplam plantations in Taja in the Kaureh District and in some areas in the Unurmguay District in the regency of Jayapura.PT Korindo Group have also developed thousands of hectares of oilpalm plantations since 1997/1998 in the Asiki District in the of Merauke Regency.

These companies only set up plants to process crude palmoil and to ship it to factories in Sulawesi, Java and Sumatra to be further processed into products like cooking oil and other cosmetic materials.Two Malaysian companies have since January this year developed oilpalm plantations in Bewani, in the East Arso District in the Keeromg regency bordering with Papua New Guinea while another one is just begining to develop an oilpalm plantation in the Unurumguay District in the Jayapura regency.-- BERNAMA