State-owned Land in Puncak for Free Transactions

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Houses and villas are increasingly crowded in the Puncak recreation area in Tugu, Cisarua, Bogor Regency, as seen on Wednesday (19/8/2020).

State-owned land in the Puncak zone, West Java, is for free transactions. Many permanent buildings have been erected in this area. The land’s forest cover is decreasing. Floods and landslides are thus threatening.

BOGOR, KOMPAS — The transaction of state-owned land with the status of leasehold property (HGU) for plantations has been commonplace in the Puncak zone, Bogor regency. In Kuta village, Megamendung district, HGU land owned by PTPN VIII (state estate company) is mostly illegally controlled by local residents as well as a number of public figures in Jakarta. Village administrators are involved in helping transact the state land deals at the price of Rp300,000 per square meter.

Also read: Prepare Mitigation in Puncak

Part of the land bought and sold is located on steep slopes with a gradient of over 45 degrees. The land plots sold range from 2,000 to 3,000 square meters. Consequently, the green water resorption zone in the upper reaches of Ciliwung River is easily crowded with various permanent buildings.

It’s not difficult to find land in the plantation HGU area of PTPN VIII. It’s enough to visit Kuta village and express the desire to buy land to local residents. Several land brokers will promptly be approaching.

Free utilization

Just by stating the intention to find land on the mountain slope around Kuta village, one to two brokers were coming near. By a broker named Bobby, a Kompas team was taken to a plot of 3,000 square meters on low-lying land overlooking a tea plantation. Bobby claimed the land being sold was owned by Gino, a local resident with the cultivation right in the PTPN VIII estate area.

The transfer (of the cultivation right) is in the village, witnessed by the subdistrict chief, heads of the community unit (RW) and neighborhood unit (RT).

Bobby also introduced another land broker named Agus to explain the process of land transfer in the HGU area of PTPN VIII. According to Agus, cultivation land transactions in the area is very simple. He even said the buyer should unnecessarily go through PTPN VIII to secure operational cooperation (KSO). It’s enough to be approved by Gino as the cultivation right owner and acknowledged by Kuta village administrators. “Just go to the village. The transfer (of the cultivation right) is in the village, witnessed by the subdistrict chief, heads of the community unit (RW) and neighborhood unit (RT),” said Agus.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Ciliwung River flow in the Cipayung area, Bogor Regency, West Java, on Monday (1/2/2021).

Not long after, a 50-year-old man arrived in a Mercedes-Benz ML Class to join Bobby and Agus. The man, claiming to be Maman, said he had been entrusted by Gino to market his cultivation land. Maman also claimed to have been assigned by the village chief to supervise land deals in Kuta village. He mentioned a number of former officials and figures in Jakarta who had bought land in the HGU area of PTPN VIII in Kuta village.

Also read: Elegy for early 2021: Upstream Landslides, Downstream Flooding

By asserting to buy land, Kompas had the chance to get confirmation about Maman’s claim from Kuta Village Chief Kusnadi. By telephone, Kusnadi also contacted Maman. Kusnadi confirmed that the process of cultivation right transfer could be executed in the village and every square meter of the land purchased was charged Rp5,000 for the village treasury. “The cost of (cultivation right) transfer is Rp5,000 per meter at most. It’s for the village, solely the village. It’s not for the district yet,” he said.

After acquiring the cultivation land, the buyer, according to Kusnadi, is free to utilize the plot, including the erection of buildings like villas. “As long as funds are available, just go on building villas. I can only make a letter of introduction to the district and relevant office because I cannot issue a license,” he added.

Most of the land plots sold have changed their function. In the HGU area of PTPN VIII in Kuta village there are about 10 villas and religious education dormitories.

PTPN VIII Director Mohammad Yudayat said the PTPN VIII land controlled by other parties was in the protected zone. PTPN VIII has never issued cultivation right licenses for any part of the Gunung Mas estate land in Megamendung and Cisarua districts.

He said PTPN VIII was striving to regain control over the Gunung Mas estate land utilized by other parties. According to PTPN VIII Secretary Naning Diah Trisnowati, out of the 1,623.19 hectares (ha) of Gunung Mas’ total estate area, 291 ha are occupied by other parties.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

One of the locations in the Cipayung area, Bogor Regency, West Java, where facilities are being built for various types of activities, Monday (1/2/2021).

Not only the HGU area of PTPN VIII has undergone functional change. In North Tugu village, Cisarua district, the tea estate land of PT Sumber Sari Bumi Pakuan (SSBP) was partly converted into a settlement 20 years ago.

North Tugu Village Head Asep Ma’mun Nawawi said originally the land of PT SSBP was registered as HGU No.5/1970 covering 822 ha. When its period was extended 30 years later, the area registered as HGU for PT SSBP was reduced to 563 ha. The remaining area of 259 ha had turned into settlements and villas. “It was changing of its own accord due to occupation. There are villas in the area,” he said.

Nearly half critical

The massive functional change of the land upstream of the Ciliwung Watershed (DAS) has put almost the entire Puncak zone in a critical state. The mapping by the Watershed and Protected Forest Management Center (BPDAS-HL) of Citarum Ciliwung in 2018 showed that most critical land had spread over nearly half of the Puncak zone, covering Cisarua and Megamendung districts with a total area of 4,600 ha.

The mapping by satellite imaging indicated that the area of the protected zone was still dominant in 2012. However, in the middle of 2020 the cultivation area appeared to have considerably replaced the protected zone.

Also read: South Kalimantan Flood a Gloomy Picture of Natural Destruction

Based on spatial analysis by the Research and Development Team of Kompas, many plots of land in the Puncak zone fail to conform to their spatial layout plan. This finding was derived from the result of superimposition of forest cover between the high-resolution satellite imaging of the Google Earth application recorded in 2012 and the map of the Spatial Layout Plan of Bogor regency for 2005-2025.

For instance, the land with buildings in Cipayung Girang and Cilember villages in Megamendung district is partly located in the protected forest zone. Similarly, the land with buildings in Sukagalih village in Megamendung and Citeko village in Cisarua is situated in the conservation forest zone.

The Gunung Mas tea estate hit by flash floods on Tuesday (19/1/2021) is within the area of almost critical to very critical land. Since 2016, Cisarua and Megamendung have not only been stricken by landslides, but also by floods and flash floods occurring 5-9 times a year.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Several villa buildings in the Puncak recreation area in Tugu, Cisarua, Bogor Regency, on Wednesday (19/8/2020).

The Disaster Mitigation Agency od Bogor regency recorded that during 2016-2020, 97 landslides hit Megamendung and 54 others wrecked Cisarua. Compared with the period of 2011-2015, the number of landslides in Cisarua and Megamendung quadrupled. Likewise, floods were also rising in volume.

A hydrologist of IPB University, Hidayat Pawitan, said the massive functional conversion of land had further reduced the water absorption capacity of soil upstream of Ciliwung River. In his view, until 2000, the coefficient of surface water overflow in Puncak was already 90 percent. It means that 90 percent of rainwater cannot be absorb by soil and overflows into the river.

(ALBERTUS KRISNA/Kompas Research & Development Division)

(This article was translated by Aris Prawira).