By: Israr Ardiansyah and Masayu Yulien Vinanda

(Jakarta-26/06)- Following the commitment to implement the Road Map for Saving Sumatra Island Ecosystem (Friday, 26/06), Ministry of Public Works and State Ministry for the Environment declared their alertness to monitor the implementation of the three strategical steps which had been agreed on the road map document.

“All parties are subject to the MoU. We give technical guidance, monitor the implementation, give stimulation, and facilitate their effort, so that they will keep up their good work and make sure the effectiveness of road map implementation, ” said Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto.
According to him, the road map declaration will automatically influence the substantial monitoring process of Regional Spatial Plan (RTRW) both in provincial and district levels.

Ministry of Public Works’ Directorate General for Regional Development Imam S. Ermawi said, “Later on, each island/provincial spatial plan have to get substantial approval from the minister. Before the minister legalise them, we will scrutinise the substance together with technical team from the Coordinating Agency for National Spatial Planning.”

Still dealing with the monitoring activitie, State Minister for the Environment Rahmat Witoelar explained that there would be punishment for those who broke the commitment. “Sometimes people violate the law because they don’t know the legal consequences of what they do. And now, they are all informed. So if they still break the law, they will be affected by the new Law on the Environment which relates to the higher civil and criminal case,” Rahmat added.

Previously, in his keynotespeech, member of the Presidential Advisory Council (Wantimpres) Prof Dr.Emil Salim, mentioned that all Sumatran provincial government should learn from the environmental damages in Java. “Focusing only on natural resources exploitation is not the solution. We should develop Sumatera with environment-based plan approach.”

“Don’t make the same mistake just like what happened in Java. Java is our past, Sumatera is our future. We should educate and build up the capacity of human resources in Sumatera, so we can add more values. This is also a great solution to prevent the environment from damaging,” said Emil, responded by 100 audience-cheer of welcome.