On 23rd of August Committee-level Environmental Impact Assessment (AMDAL) meeting on road development from Trumon to Bulohseuma was held at BAPEDAL. As a member of AMDAL committee, and due to the fact that the proposed road was located within Leuser Ecosystem, BPKEL was invited to attend the meeting. The meeting was led by the head of BAPEDAL Husaini Syamaun, and was attended by Dinas Bina Marga Cipta Karya and PT. Aditya Engineering Consultant as developer, as well as related government institutions, academic experts and government officials.

Prior to this meeting, consultant had prepared and present AMDAL document of the proposed road development to the technical team on January 31, 2011. Unfortunately, revision of the document based on suggestion and advise from previous meeting seems reckless and incomplete. In addition to that there is an impression that the meeting conducted is mere formality, vague and out of focus.

Based on the document, proposed road will extent ± 42 km from sub-district Trumon, to sub-district Buloh Seuma. This is a breakdown from the initial proposal of 70 km road that connect Trumon – Buloh Seuma – Kuala Baro – Singkil, which will cut through vast expansion of forest and fragile biodiversity-rich peat swamp. This breakdown come about from the agreement between Aceh Government, Aceh Bina Marga and Cipta Karya, South Aceh district government, Aceh WALHI and related institution to separate the two project due to different type of ecosystem impacted, therefore requiring different environmental impact assessment.

One of the major flaw in the planning process of this project is lack of consideration on several regulation, naming: (1) Government Regulation No. 16/2004 regarding Land Use, (2) Government Regulation No. 26/2008 on National Spatial Planning, (3) Ministerial Decree No. 190/Kpts-II/2001 on Leuser Ecosystem Boundaries in Aceh Province. These significant regulation were not included in the document.

The consultant team stated that existing roads between Trumon to Buloh Seuma were located in dry areas and not touching peat swamps. This statement were backed by a letter from South Aceh District Head No. 620/844/2008 and was self-verified through field visit. However, a representative from a local NGO decline this statement by pulling out the fact that the length between Ie Meudama to Teupin Tinggi were located in fairly dry area within Singkil Peat Wildlife Reserve, while Buloh Seuma is located in peat swamp areas with varying depth.

Maps, ordinates and measurement included in the document were regarded as inaccurate and have failed to depict actual condition on the ground. Coordinates cross checking conducted by BPKEL GIS staff proved that the road will cut through Singkil Wildlife Reserve and the plan has not been revised as advised in technical meeting. This is contrary to consultants claims; the road will not be build within protected areas, its going to be build in adjacent to the Singkil Swamp Wildlife Reserve, which is part of Leuser Ecosystem.  This claim has made the consultant appear to have failed gathering factual information, or intentionally misled committee members attending the meeting.

As part of committee member and government bodies responsible to conserve and protect Leuser Ecosystem, it is our responsibility to ensure every projects takin place within and in adjacent to Leuser ecosystem comply with current regulations. Based on our legal standing and ecological expertise we decline to accept the Environmental Impact Assessment, and refuse to support proposed road development project.

BPKEL written response on this meeting addressed to BAPEDAL (in Indonesian) will be provided upon request.