PALMOILMAGAZINE, KUTAI TIMUR – A palm oil plantation company located in the District of Kutai Timur (Kutim), East Kalimantan Province, namely PT BMA, became the focal point for Kutim Legislators. Allegations were made that the company was expanding its palm oil plantations beyond its designated business rights, sparking controversy during a hearing involving Kutim Legislators, the National Land Agency, Land Agency, Plantation Agency, Public Works, and People’s Housing.
According to Faizal Rachman, a member of Kutim Legislators, reports were received from the public indicating that PT. BMA was extending its palm oil plantations beyond the approved business rights. To verify these claims, he conducted a field visit, gathered coordinates, and documented the field conditions through both photos and drone videos.
During the meeting, Faizal Rachman presented all relevant documents and boundaries, highlighting suspicions that palm oil plantations were being developed outside the approved business rights. Of particular concern was the suspicion that these plantations were located near the shoreline.
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M Saipul Anwar, Head of PSP PTK Land Agency in the District of Kutim, disclosed that the institution had received official documents on September 26, 2023, from three smallholders’ groups and one swift’s nest owner regarding unauthorized planting. Subsequent field checks confirmed the alignment with public complaints and business rights data obtained during the initial review by the National Land Agency on February 14, 2023.
“Around the concrete stakes seemed to be planted by palm oil. If the stakes are made, these are the borders. No more planting for palm oil. But to the left and right sides, palm oil trees grow,” Saipul said, as quoted from aktualborneo.com.
Faizal Rachman urged the representatives of National Land Agency to deliver coordinate data of the company’s business rights to get validation. The representative of National Land Agency, Indah could not directly say much, she would ask the coordinate data to be managed in National Land Agency and would be delivered to Kutim Legislators.
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From the meeting, Kutim Legislators and related parties agreed to review the location to make sure that plantation development out of business rights. Faizal also told, if everything is right, there should be legal enforcement according to available regulations.
“If the company really developed palm oil plantations out of its business rights, we would report (to the official institution) to solve the case. There would be sanctions for the ‘naughty companies,” he said. (T2)
