JAKARTA — Indonesia will revoke land rights covering a total of more than 42,000 hectares from eight companies allegedly involved in forest fires, while three other firms remain under review, the government said.
Agrarian Affairs Minister Nusron Wahid said on Monday that the land use permits of three companies, known as HGU, would be fully revoked after more than 50 per cent of their concessions were burned amid repeated fire outbreaks and inadequate prevention measures
Another company's land use rights will be partially revoked, while another will not be able to renew its already expired HGU, he added
Three other companies with plantation permits will not be granted land use rights after outbreaks of fire on their concessions, Nusron said
Another three firms with total concessions covering more than 11,000 hectares are still under review
"Based on the beneficial ownership of the 11 companies, some are linked to investors from South Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore," he said without elaborating
The government did not disclose the types of plantation held by the companies whose permits will be revoked
Singapore summoned representatives of SGX-listed companies suspected of having fires on their plantations in Indonesia following a spike in pollution caused by intensifying smoke and haze drifting into the city-state from Indonesia's wildfires
Indonesia has been battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, with large swathes of land scorched, mainly on the islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Papua
Fire and haze have caused more than 400,000 cases of acute respiratory infections in seven Indonesian provinces as of Nov 2, Health Ministry data showed.
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