The World's Biggest Ecological Disaster

THE 1-million-hectare peat land development project has definitely sent disaster to Kalimantan. Begun on January 23, 1996 the mega-project was designed to realize President Suharto's dream of transforming the swamps of Kalimantan into rice-producing areas and make Indonesia self-sufficient in rice. It ended in a painful tragedy: trillions of rupiah were squandered, vast areas of the ecosystem destroyed, thousands of the local population displaced, and thousands more transmigrants left in the lurch. An Integrated Team from several departments and the National Development Planning Board is to begin reviewing this week a plan to redesign and conserve the area that environmentalists have called "the world's biggest ecological disaster". For the time being, the estimated budget is: four times the cost of the original project. TEMPO, which carried an investigative report on the ill-conceived project in its April 12, 1999 issue, revisited the area for another report in December and January.