TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government must abide by the ruling made by the Supreme Court that revokes the environmental permit of the construction of a plant owned by state-owned cement company PT Semen Indonesia in North Kendeng Mountain, Rembang, Central Java.
The ruling can actually be prevented if the government had abided by the law and listened to the aspiration of the locals since the beginning.
PT Semen obtained a mining permit from Rembang local government back in 2011.
The environmental permit was issued by the then Central Java Governor in the following year.
The location of karst exploration and the plant was met with refusal by the locals since the beginning because it is located in Watuputih groundwater basin, which is an area for water absorption, water flow and the release of groundwater.
Mining activities in the region is feared to damage water conservation in the area.
Untung Sudadi, a geology researcher at Bogor Agricultural Institute said that the groundwater basin and the karst in North Kendeng Mountain play a very important role for the northern part of Central Java as it preserves water supply even during the dry season.
It is not only the locals who depend on water source in Kendeng, but also regional drinking water companies in Rembang and Blora.
If North Kendeng Mountain is used as a mining area, it is feared that water shortage will happen during the dry season because the area for water absorption in the highlands will be gone.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the Presidential Decree Number 26 of 2011 designated Watuputih as a groundwater basin.
Regional regulation of Rembang local government number 14 of 2011 on spatial planning of Rembang regency in the period of 2011 - 2031 also designated it as a geological protected area.
If that was the case, then why was the permit for the construction of the plant, including the environmental permit, still granted?
Bibit Waluyo once questioned the locals’ refusal for the project because there is a positive from the project, namely providing job opportunities for the locals. The plant will also become a new source of cash for the regional government.
The government’s consideration can be understood but the locals’ worry for their future due to the presence of the plant is also very understandable.
Indeed, the government should be rational in taking into consideration, whether job opportunities available and taxes submitted to the regional government is comparable with the environmental destructions and social impacts that are caused.
The dilemma for Central Java government under Ganjar Pranowo administration is now bigger because the plant, with the investment value of Rp 4 trillion, has already been built but the judicial review of the Supreme Court on 4 October 2016 was done after listening to the objection of the people as they found problems in the permit.
Here lies the dilemma.
The government’s move to halt the project that has already used a huge amount of money has the potential to risk losing the trust from the business world. However, ignoring the ruling of the Court is also an act of violating the law.
This situation actually could have been avoided if the government had abided by the law since the beginning, that is by not granting the permit of the construction of the plant in a region that should be protected, and had been serious listening to the aspiration of the side whose interest must be prioritized: the people.
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